Wish

[PatchofBlue]

That makes the film the No. 3 most-viewed streaming premiere for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film, trailing “Encanto,” which debuted in theaters in November 2021 before streaming on Disney+ that December, and “Frozen 2,” which released theatrically November 2019 an arrived on streaming the following March. Exact viewership data for those titles is unavailable.

This becomes a little less impressive when you remember that Disney Animation has only premiered like five movies since Disney+ went up. But at least it beat Strange World?

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I don't see either of these movies gaining big cult followings. They're just not that good, and I don't think anyone who made either Wish or Strange Magic were that passionate about them. And not because they're "woke" like some idiots will want you to believe without describing what that word actually means.

Say what you will about Luca or Turning Red, but you can tell those were labors of love, projects their directors felt were important. I wouldn't call either favorites, but there's a reason I've seen more passion for either film than these.

[UmbrellaFish]

Avaitor, I mostly agree with you. I think Wish has the potential to gain a following if Asha is inducted into the Disney Princess franchise and remains a part of it. If the franchise pumps out backpacks and dolls of Asha alongside the other Princesses, she’ll remain relevant. Every Princess is somebody’s favorite Princess.

[Avaitor]

Avaitor, I mostly agree with you. I think Wish has the potential to gain a following if Asha is inducted into the Disney Princess franchise and remains a part of it. If the franchise pumps out backpacks and dolls of Asha alongside the other Princesses, she’ll remain relevant. Every Princess is somebody’s favorite Princess.

That's fair, and I don't think you're wrong. Something I've learned is that every Disney movie (at least the animated ones) is someone's favorite, and I'm sure that Wish and Asha have their fans. A couple of people here clearly are. I don't see Wish becoming the next Frozen or even Princess and the Frog, however.

[UmbrellaFish]

Oh I agree. It’s hard to imagine “Wish” getting its own attraction at a Disney park like TPATF now is, 10+ years after its original release.

[Patricier21]

So if I may ask, per your Username, you believe that twilight is a great example of womanhood and female empowerment? More so than Disney?

Yes I think Twilight is a great example of womanhood and female empowerment. It was written by women for women. The reason it gets so much hate online is because men can't stand it when women have their own things and feel the need to critique it and make us feel bad for liking stuff. Twilight was a cultural phenomenon and spoke to women all over and that's not even including the male fans. You know Forks New York is a tourist attraction now for Twilight fans who still visit in droves???

Also look at the strength of the Twilight community. There was a Lego set for Twilight accepted because the fandom came together to make it come true with 10000 signatures. The story I read said those 10000 signatures were all made in one day. Most Lego sets that accepted that way have to wait months at best, usually years if even.

As for your last question it depends on which Disney you mean. Cuz current Disney, yup Twilight is way better. It understands that women are not lesser for falling in love and having relationships. Love makes everyone in the world stronger, men and women. This articles I read told me everything that I already knew that Disney believes love makes women weaker because it involves relying on a man. You can't have women being saved by men anymore or falling in love. And the only way to make women look stronger in nu-Disney is by making all the men useless children. Classic Disney or Real Disney that is knows the strength of true love and relationships. Mickey is just as better off for loving Minnie as Daisy is for loving Donald.

So this is not the gotcha you think it is. Disney needs to stop inserting activism in everything and making that the focus. The article literally says they care more about shoving messages down our throats instead of making entertainment. And my fav part is that after flop after flop u would think they would learn their lesson but instead they keep doubling down and deciding they're gonna continue hiring activists and making activist pictures that don't work.

But Despite its phenomenal popularity, in which a decent amount of the recent Disney stuff also has despite recent flops, what do you have to say about its (still) Overall negative reaction, including those from women, including those who you surely know yourself? The fact that the series puts way more emphasis on Bella and the other females becoming a devoted damsel in distress that either has to rely on or Have literally nothing else in their lives besides their beloved significant other, even more so than Those from Disney? Not to mention that maybe just maybe Disney’s recent approach could be as a result of things like twilight Giving this kind of thing a bad representation, EH?

[DisneyJedi]

I know a lot of folks didn’t like Wish when it came out in November, but the fact it’s only now getting some actual traction after premiering on Disney+ aggravates the crap out of me. It’s so frustrating that I’m fighting every urge to just hop on Twitter and going all, “WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU GUYS WHEN THIS WAS RELEASED IN THEATERS?! ”

Some people claim that nobody is willing to go to see a Disney movie in theaters and yet they’re all on board for seeing Avatar 2, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Barbie and Top Gun 2 (at least four of the most recent highest grossing films the last couple years). Double standard, much?

[Vlad]

I can't speak for the other, but I myself didn't go see it in theaters, because in Romania, they decided to only release a dubbed version in theaters, which I would never go see. I don't know if you guys ever heard a Romanian dub for a Disney movie, but they're all awful....we use the same voice actors over and over and over again, they have no emotion, nothing. It really ruins the experience.

I didn't even watch Strange World, because it simply doesn't interest me; the plot doesn't sound exciting or remotely interesting. As for Wish, I don't think it's a bad movie, but it's not amazing either. It's definitely not woke, but I don't think they put that much effort in it. Someone on YouTube said that the lyrics in the songs sound like they were written by AI, which I thought was weird at first, but now I understand why they thought that. Even though I think that "This Wish" is the best song in the soundtrack, I still don't like all the "yeah, yeah" towards the end. It's like listening to a pop song, instead of a movie musical.

All in all, I'd say that Wish is kinda like Robin Hood, not bad, but not great either, not particularly memorable. I wouldn't give it a rewatch anytime soon.

I will buy the Blu-ray, because I'd love to own Once Upon A Studio in a physical form, and also, the bonus features themselves sound pretty cool.

[PatchofBlue]

Yeah, I don't see either of these movies gaining big cult followings. They're just not that good, and I don't think anyone who made either Wish or Strange Magic were that passionate about them.

I might be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, especially Wish. I think it's a little more enamored with the optics of a Disney movie than the chemistry of why they work, but Ariana Debose especially seems to GET what it means to be a part of the Disney tradition. She doesn't read like an Emma Watson type to me. I see her tear up singing "This Wish" at Disneyland and I think that she's genuinely grateful to be signing her name to the Disney legacy, and I can't help but be happy for her, EVEN AS I'm thinking to myself that I don't think the song is particularly strong.

Strange World is an interesting case to me because while Wish has some very clearly discernible flaws that are on the whole easy to articulate, Strange World's original sin is ... just being boring, mostly. Like, I don't think it's as simple as the plot or characters not gelling, and it frustrates me that I can't really put a name to what I think would have improved the film, all while thinking it has a lot going for it on paper. I think it's interesting having a 40-year-old Dad as a protagonist in a Disney film, and I like that they had a strong diverse ensemble cast without trying to make a platform out of it. I don't even mind the character designs the way some people on this board do, and I even think that the animation of the world itself is actually something to behold, which is not a small achievement for a film whose entire stage is built on a computer.

[The Disneynerd]

Strange World is an interesting case to me because while Wish has some very clearly discernible flaws that are on the whole easy to articulate, Strange World's original sin is ... just being boring, mostly. Like, I don't think it's as simple as the plot or characters not gelling, and it frustrates me that I can't really put a name to what I think would have improved the film, all while thinking it has a lot going for it on paper. I think it's interesting having a 40-year-old Dad as a protagonist in a Disney film, and I like that they had a strong diverse ensemble cast without trying to make a platform out of it. I don't even mind the character designs the way some people on this board do, and I even think that the animation of the world itself is actually something to behold, which is not a small achievement for a film whose entire stage is built on a computer.

overall agree with your points. What makes Strange World way worse for me than Wish is, while Wish had a plot and a message, a very, veryyyyyyyyy vague and basic message, Strange World had literally no real conflict or message attached to it. Its as if they asked AI to make a scifi movie in the veins of Treasure Planet and Atlantis and AI would then puke those Character designs and story synopsis out. The movie offered nothing new to the WDAS filmography (except those horrible character designs). Im also happy for Ariana Debose, her passion for the Studio is admirable

Also i needed an excuse to bring this up here. It was on my Fyp on instagram and at this point im just gonna accept that this is canon Asha may not be as intimitating as Gaston, but shes still a disney villain https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5URznyq ... VxMHppcg==

[Farerb]

Also i needed an excuse to bring this up here. It was on my Fyp on instagram and at this point im just gonna accept that this is canon Asha may not be as intimitating as Gaston, but shes still a disney villain https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5URznyq ... VxMHppcg==

Everyone was happy and living without paying rent and this girl came in sang a song and ruined it all.

[Sotiris]

Also i needed an excuse to bring this up here. It was on my Fyp on instagram and at this point im just gonna accept that this is canon Asha may not be as intimitating as Gaston, but shes still a disney villain https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5URznyq4xU/

Interesting comparison. If you think about it, Asha embodies the narcissism and entitlement of a certain faction of modern-day activists and protesters who think it's their right to create social discord and destroy everything in their path to get their way without any regard for how their actions affect others.

[PatchofBlue]

overall agree with your points. What makes Strange World way worse for me than Wish is, while Wish had a plot and a message, a very, veryyyyyyyyy vague and basic message, Strange World had literally no real conflict or message attached to it. Its as if they asked AI to make a scifi movie in the veins of Treasure Planet and Atlantis and AI would then puke those Character designs and story synopsis out.

Strange World had a very strong green message, another thing that stoked the furies of the alt-right. I don't think that was incidental because this idea of leaving a better world for the rising generations was reflected in both how we treat this world we live on and the relationships we build with our kids, which feels like a variation of a theme we see in something like the Jurassic Park/World films.

[Sotiris]

Strange World had a very strong green message, another thing that stoked the furies of the alt-right.

I don't think the message was the problem in and of itself, but rather the way it was executed. Wall-E, Happy Feet, and FernGully also had strong green messages, but they were much more successful in their execution.

[MrXemnas1992]

I wouldn't call Wish BAD, just played way too safe. Like the film itself is just blandly serviceable but the deleted scenes painted something more interesting and a better love-letter to prior disney movies. Honestly if it weren't THE centennial celebration film, I'd probably be kinder...

I dunno, like...Chicken Little was bad. This? This was more like Home of the Range quality...not bad, not good, just okay. just so aggressively okay that it's not worth any strong emotions (aside from being robbed of better concepts revealed by the art book and deleted scenes)

[MrXemnas1992]

So am I the only one who hopes that, if Disney ever adapts Wish to Broadway, they take the unused concepts (such as Star being Star Boy or whatever his name would have been and "At All Costs" being a love duet between him and Asha) and adapt them to the stage like how Aladdin ended up using concepts from Howard Ashman's original version for its Broadway production?

I doubt Disney is going to do a Broadway version of Wish anytime soon, if ever. Especially not with music as contentious as this. Asha will probably be added to the Disney Princess line when the movie is not the newest film.

That said - the Wish fandom is wild.

I've seen several animatics on YouTube and Tumblr where "At All Costs" is a love duet for human star ("Starboy") and Asha.

It may be just a few die-hards but there's a clear level of adoration for a character and subplot that never even appeared in the final movie.

Honestly there's something hilarious yet heartwarming that the movie has a fandom...not for what it was, but for what it could have been.

[PatchofBlue]

Strange World had a very strong green message, another thing that stoked the furies of the alt-right.

I don't think the message was the problem in and of itself, but rather the way it was executed. Wall-E, Happy Feet, and FernGully also had strong green messages, but they were much more successful in their execution.

See, I personally don't think it was poorly executed at all. I felt like it was one of those "hidden in plain sight" things where you didn't necessarily see it coming, but when you look back and check their math, you can see, "Oh, yeah. That checks out. This has kind of been a story about learning how the human impulse to conquer one's environment isn't necessarily the legacy you want to leave for your kids." Like, I don't think it was masterful storytelling, but I definitely don't think it was one of the weaker elements of the film.

[The Disneynerd]

Everyone was happy and living without paying rent and this girl came in sang a song and ruined it all.

Feels like she took his logical rejection of being his apprentice way too personal and searched for small mistakes to paint him as a horrible monster.

Strange World had a very strong green message, another thing that stoked the furies of the alt-right. I don't think that was incidental because this idea of leaving a better world for the rising generations was reflected in both how we treat this world we live on and the relationships we build with our kids, which feels like a variation of a theme we see in something like the Jurassic Park/World films.

Oh youre right! I completely forgot it since it was more of a twist at the end which didnt feel like its core message, it was kinda sidelined to focus on the family "conflict". But green messages are important as the world is literally getting hotter every year. I wouldnt be surprised if the world will melt in 5 years

Interesting comparison. If you think about it, Asha embodies the narcissism and entitlement of a certain faction of modern-day activists and protesters who think it's their right to create social discord and destroy everything in their path to get their way without any regard for how their actions affect others.

i think even Ariana Debose or something mentioned her being an activist. I HATE the ones that always throw tomato soup on paintings, this will clearly help the environment and climate activists reputation
Also the rest of the posts from the @magnificolover Page are also worth watching, especially his interesting, long comments.
Like in this one https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5vBdsZK ... k5Zmw1bjNs he discusses how childish the people behave, like Simon and Ashas gang, ignoring the fact he willingly snitched on them to get his wish granted, and forgiving him since the evil King was respondsable for... granting his wish?...

The more you think about the movie, the less sense it makes lol.

Also cant believe im saying this but seems like WDAS was still really caring for its movies and emotional storytelling in the mid 2010s, considering they cancelled Gigantic due to story issues (which speaks against itself since Ralph 2 was in production too), tho they already invested 80 million on that and would have been a doubtless success as their other smash hit fairytale IPs, the Disney "hate" really unfolded in 2023 so prior to that most of their movies were

Also all of Magnificos motives and actions as a villain are weak, but make so much more sense as a hero, like him wanting to search Star, as "bad" people (like Asha) could probably take advantage of it to fulfill all their evil dreams with magic (wands) themselves.
The studio then figured out that hes too understandable and sympathetic that they magically made him posessed by the evil book lol.
The movie script literally HAD to be made by AI

One of the worst aspects is that the Queen abondens her husband that loved each other for decades out of nowhere she turns her back on him and didnt try hard to save him.
If that reference hungry movie loved to reuse famous disney tropes anyway, it wouldnt have been a problem for the Queen to give Magnifico a true loves kiss to heal him from the curse after he was trapped in the mirror....

My head canon theory:
Queen Amayas Villain origin story is that she quickly wanted to marry Magnifico as soon as she heard of his magic knowledge to get power so she became his wife and Queen and waited for him to fail so she can rule alone. "Magnifico on the wall, who is now the most handsomest of them all?" This makes kinda sense omg it was intended as a joke, but Magnificos sorcery is similar to the one of the Evil Queen, so Amaya probably learned to adapt or learn a few of the spells herself and probably used the evil book herself (since Evil Queen also has lime green eyes like posessed Magnifico does.). Greedy evil queen Amaya rules for a few months, until Fairy Peoplepleaser Asha made Rosas unlivable due to threatening Wishes, so Amaya moves to another kingdom to stay in royal Power and marries a King who has a Daughter named Snow White blah blah yayyyyy my story made sense.

In conclusion, Wish payed hommage to more disney aspects than meets the eye, marking not only the origin story of the Fairygodmother that looks totally different in Cinderella, but also the prequel to the first disney villain, the Evil Queen yay. Beautiful way to bring up the legacy full circle.

Also seems like the people of Rosas arent forced to give their wish once they turn 18, as we see older people submit their wishes as well, something the @Magnificolover Page points out too.

If he would force you to give your wish at 18, it would make room for an interesting plot of Asha maybe being the only one who still cant decide what she wants to accomplish in her life and how he cant force people to just narrow their dreams into one specific thing that will determine the rest of your life. The message could be that its ok to still not know what u wanna do in life or if your dreams shift over time, kinda like a critic about how we are somehow forced to choose one specific job for the rest of our lives. Thats a story I would have loved to see, Especially since I really dont know what i wanna do for a living since school ended now, as my dreams slowly shifted now.

Also, HOW is it possible that the movie wasnt nominated at the Razzies for worst song or movie.... atleast ONE nomination. The last song that won a razzie was Britney Spears' "Im not a girl" in 2002, and the song is even quite good. I guess they were just biased due to all the Britney hate that started around that time as she won also for worst actress... Is it possible to pay the Razzies to snub you?


As we are in an era like this where WDAS lost alot of its selfrespect and legacy by making fun of the princess tropes in Ralph 2, or make jokes about bursting out in song in official musical movies like Moana 2 ("do we have to sing?"), Do you guys think WDAS may make fun of Wish in the future? Like in 10-20 years through a dialouge reference or something?

[PatrickvD]

Trying to watch this at long last on Disney+. It’s really hard to push through. The songs are so bad and the animation doesn’t work. I feel like I’m not saying anything new here and everything has already been said about it. It’s well intended, but deeply misguided.

I was hopeful when the first trailers came out and up until the film’s release but yeah, it’s hard to defend this. The folks running the studio don’t understand what makes a Disney animated classic and that’s just sad and deeply alarming.

Worst thing about this is how Ariana de Bose’s talent was wasted on such a forgettable project. A real shame.

[Farerb]

I'd just like to point out that it's such a cop out to defeat a villain by singing a song. I don't recall any previous Disney villain defeated that way, that's something out of a TV show.