Wish

[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.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

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.

Dr. Facilier was defeated during a song in The Princess and the Frog.

[Farerb]

Dr. Facilier was defeated during a song in The Princess and the Frog.

Tiana didn't sing a song in order to defeat him.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Dr. Facilier was defeated during a song in The Princess and the Frog.

Tiana didn't sing a song in order to defeat him.

Still was defeated in a song, regardless

[Farerb]

Still was defeated in a song, regardless

But that wasn't my point so I'm not sure what it has to do with anything?

[Sotiris]

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.

A preschool TV show, to be exact. Also, other characters taking part in the reprise of 'This Wish' really exemplified how empty Asha is as a character. Even her 'I Want' song which is supposed to be something very personal and tailored to the individual became common property because Asha has no real dreams or aspirations of her own.

[PatchofBlue]

I actually kinda liked Asha defeating the villain through a song in concept, and even teared up a little when I realized that's how they were playing it. I think I would have liked it MORE in a stronger movie and with a stronger song, but I think this is one of those rare moments where you see the movie actually living up to its promise to capture the core of every Disney movie. The Little Mermaid doesn't actually culminate with Ariel having a "Part of Your World" sing-off with Ursula, but the story is ultimately a battle between Ariel's ideology and Ursula's. I think that bringing that thematic undertone to the surface with song is a perfectly reasonable approach.

Anyways, Moana does kind of have its heroine defeat the bad guy with a song. "Know Who You Are" is playing as Moana confronts Te Ka just before she restores her to her true form. A little off-center from what we're talking about, but Wish's tactic isn't completely unprecedented in the Disney canon.

[Disney Duster]

It was that the people all connected to the star power in them (science says we all come from exploding stars from the birth of the universe), and they just did it while singing. It wasn't defeating a villain just by song.

[Farerb]

I rewached the film a couple of times with my brother's family and each time made me dislike the film even more. I'm sorry.

[friendoftheotherside]

I rewached the film a couple of times with my brother's family and each time made me dislike the film even more. I'm sorry.

If I may ask, Farerb, what you disliked about Wish?

For me, I have very mixed feelings about Wish. And part of the problem is how short the movie was. I think if they had 15/20 minutes more, they could’ve fleshed out some plot points better, especially the ending. Or maybe they could have cut some of the characters. Asha’s friends and family don’t have much to do, besides being reference to other things (seven dwarfs/WDAS 100th anniversary). I’m not very fondly of most of the easter-eggs, because it seemed so heavy handed, like that person dressed as Peter Pan

But there is some elements that I really liked. Like I’ve said in Tiana’s thread, I really liked the animation, because I don’t really like photorealistic CGI And the backgrounds were so beautiful. Also I really love some of the songs, especially At All Costs and This Wish (Reprise), and the scene in which the last one plays gave me goosebumps! I’m glad that we’ve got a new villain, instead of being family trauma or some force of nature. Yet the thing I loved the most about Wish is Star. It’s such a wonderful and cute character, symbolizing hope and good things. And in a way, Star also represents Walt’s quote about “keep moving foward”. At least, for me lol

[The Disneynerd]

New instsgram short comparing Encantos Abuelas and Magnificos motives, with Mirabels apology to her fitting both Magnifico and Abuela... interesting
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6GPvpNK ... hta2plcw==

If Disney wasnt too determine for the Fanservice of having a traditional unredeemable big bad again, he would have been easily forgiven as he only had good unselfish intentions and was less abusive than Bruja Abuela

I’m not very fondly of most of the easter-eggs, because it seemed so heavy handed, like that person dressed as Peter Pan

This was easily the worst one for me. It wasnt even a reference anymore, but a Cameo

Also really interesting how much Japan loves Magnifico and wanted him redeemed, that even the official Disney Japan Account praises him now. There were many Protests in Japan as they felt the character was done dirty and more https://www.instagram.com/p/C5wYattq7IW ... FpajAzcTdy

Magnificolover instagram.jpg (226.44 KiB) Viewed 544 times

Also the whole Wish narrative reminds me of the Musical "Twisted, the untold Story of a royal vizier" where disneys Aladdin gets told through the eyes of the good Jafar, who sees Aladdin as a troublemaker,  And this song raps it up perfectly, with the people of Agrabah letting their hatred out to Jafar because they can, saying that every bad thing in the kingdom is linked to him and singing they "need to dream a little harder" and their Wishes will automatically come true, which is all what Wish is in its core, only that this is a parody and Wish meant it serious https://youtu.be/icOdk4zcCxo?si=9OWKhQBDJujkf1Ju

But Unlike Wish I really enjoyed this musical, its really hilarious and also has its soft moments.

[DisneyJedi]

What I don’t comprehend is how people see Asha as the “true” villain when Magnifico is hoarding the wishes and won’t grant even the most harmless ones under the guise that the wish is “dangerous.” Hell, he’s the one who literally smashes the people’s wishes for power.

[Disney's Divinity]

Unfortunately, a lot of people choose to see the movie through political lens and politics involves a heavy dose of race-baiting and hatemongering these days. By that I mean that some people have a hard time accepting that the villain is White and the hero is Black for some reason. I don't see any way you can write Magnifico as the good guy when, like you said, he's essentially hoarding people's souls more or less. I guess I can see A.I. agreeing that the world would be a better place if everyone was dead and unfeeling inside, more easily controlled, like the one Magnifico leads.

I feel like the commentary around Wish is bombastic for the same reason (politics). To me, even its flaws aren't something I could feel strongly about, so it's hard to buy most of the talk around it being genuine. The film is very much in the "okay" zone, it's hard for me to feel too strongly about it. Except for the "I'm a Star" song, that moment / song was cringeworthy. Still, I think the film could possibly be looked at as the start of another uphill climb for WDAS, depending if the next film does even better. After all, Strange World left quite a pit for them to climb out of, I think I simply underestimated how much impact that film being poor affected WDAS, but the pandemic impacting the films before it probably made it being underwhelming have more impact, I suppose. Sort of a one-two punch that really put them in a ditch. I don't hate Strange World, but I wasn't surprised at its performance. The design was terrible and everything about it looked very uninteresting from the trailers. The future will tell if Wish might be looked as something that helped begin to lift them out of that zone, the way TLM and TP&TF did in the past.

[PatchofBlue]

People also just see Wish, and most of Disney's 2023 output, as an outlet for their general frustration toward the Disney company during its victory lap throughout the 2010s. Everyone who's been saying all along that Disney films are all just syrupy sentiment and no plotting are NOT missing their opportunity to broadcast their disdain for Wish. The dialogue around the movie's flaws (which are many, in my opinion) has kind of left an opening for just about anyone with a platform to throw rotten fruit at the film, and because everyone already agrees the movie is a "DIsAsTEr," people will just go and run with whatever gets lobbed at the movie, whether or not the points are valid.