Wish | Movie Review (Non Spoiler + Spoilers)
Channel Theme Song Hey guys this is a Alachia and this is my review for Wish. A Wish is a the newest Disney animated feature film in which is I think it’s part of their centennial celebration where they are celebrating 100 years of Disney, in which case this film has a lot of Easter eggs in order to celebrate the many classic films in which people know and have loved Bambi, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. A lot of it is just kind of sprinkled throughout this film as kind of nostalgia berries for people who have enjoyed
Disney throughout the years. But this is an original film which is written by the same writers as Frozen, a very popular and stars Ariana Dubos and Chris Pine, Ariana DeVos Paint Playing Asia, a character who lives in the Kingdom of Roses, and Chris Pine, who is playing KING Magnifico. KING My nephew and his wife, Queen Amelia, have founded this island of roses in the Mediterranean in which he has spent a vast majority of his life learning sorcery and wizardry in order to be able to grant wishes. And on the 18th birthday of everyone life, he
invites them to the castle to give up their wish to him, in which he holds it safe for them and puts it in his observatory. And once a month he
also kind of hinting and declaring that she would really like that her grandfather be given this wish, in which case. KING Magnifico. So it starts to reveal, like his motivations as to how he decides his wish is granted. And then they come into conflict with each other. And then the movie progresses from there. The this is definitely not a frozen frozen I felt like was very much a film that could be enjoyed by adults. And this film is very hard. G The ways in which the characters interact with each other and the way that the
Asha goes on her journey and the way she interacts with all the other characters she meets is incredibly kid ish. I mean, we’re talking toddler like sense of character, relationships and dynamics. You know, you have talking animals and it’s just a very silly kind of interactions that’s very not deep and it’s very unsophisticated. And that seems fine because you’re like, this is a Disney film, right? But I’m saying this is a Disney film that kind of skews very, very young in terms of how it is presented, even in terms of the animation style, which I
really enjoyed. It’s it’s definitely still visual, you know. CG But and done with computer animation, but it is made to look like a 2D storybook kind of animation. But I don’t know if that type of animation is enough to compel children because as I said in my review, there are a couple of requirements that I consider. I call them the babysitter qualifying qualifying element, in which case you do need constant levels of action and events going on. You need a lot of dynamic character moments, a lot of highs, you know, a lot of ups and
silliness levels that just constantly increase. And then from a visual aspect, for kids to stay incredibly engaged, you do need those Popsicle layers, you need the confetti, you need the glitter. And this is very subdued. And I think that one of the most telling things for me when I went to go see this was that the children in the audience were kind of getting up and wandering around and the parents were yelling at them to get back in their seats. And that already is like, ooh, that’s that means there’s just not enough engagement. And I
found myself kind of like my mind wandering a lot during these scenes because they were just so mid and not entertaining. It’s just sort of like, she’s doing this now. she’s walking through here and just not a lot of parts of engagement that I think make things more entertaining or what what kids need for entertainment these days. Now the the voice acting of Ariana Dubos and Chris Pine was why I was like, I want to check this movie out. Maybe this will harken back to Aladdin Days or or Little Mermaid. You know, the time, you
know, Disney’s like Golden Age or the Renaissance Age. And because these are two very, very strong voice actors and singers and they didn’t disappoint with their what they brought the level of energy they brought. But the songs, they were just okay. The title song is really good. It’s got a good earworm element to it, but it is definitely no Frozen’s Let it go and it just didn’t pop the same way. It’s very pleasant, but I don’t think it’s incredibly lasting. And then the rest of the songs very much felt like Broadway musical types where I
was listening to them and thinking, I could definitely see high schoolers deciding to do a presentation with these songs because of the way that the dynamic of the chorus, etc. And so the more complex and not as musical or fun and they very much Salt Lake, I very much felt like I was watching an animated Broadway show. Now, while it is, like I said, a very hard key in terms of the presentation and the interactions of the characters, the theme of this movie was confusingly at first very, very mature. This is a film where I
was just kind of very puzzled because I was like, How are the themes so freaking mature? And adult? And yet the presentation is so. G So let me just go ahead and give my, my assessment of this film and then I’ll go into my theories on as to why that is. So I’m going to go ahead and give Disney’s wish a C minus. It was very dull. I didn’t find it entertaining. I think it’s very forgettable and I don’t actually think it’s going to be a good babysitter type film. I don’t think you’re going to
see kids gravitating towards this on the iPad, on Disney, plus the way that they gravitated towards Moana and El Canto. I just don’t think it has the replayability. And as much as it was nice to have those nods in the Easter eggs of all the Disney movies, it just wasn’t integrated very well. And the character of Asha was written by the same people who wrote Frozen. And I’m telling you, it’s like the same chick. It’s Ana moana Asha. They call them different names. You can give them different looks, but the same chick, same chick. Anyway.
So, yeah, C-minus. Okay, so now I need to put my tinfoil hat on. Okay. All right, guys, I was thinking about. I don’t I’m not sure I want to do this because as I was forming my notes for this film, I was still just couldn’t racking my brain. Why is this film so G? Why is it so la la la with the animals? It’s so cute, blah, blah, blah. We’re just all friends and look at my amazing diverse group of friends and we all get along and we all have our own quirks. And yet the
theme of this film is super freaking adult, in which Oscar is contending with King magnifico, questioning his motives as to how he rules and his policies on ruling. And so then I know this is going to go into spoilers now. This is the way that King Magnifico is portrayed. Is he is the holder of these people’s wishes and he decides who’s going to whose wish he’s going to grant. But the only wishes he chooses to ever grant are the ones that are the most generic, the most unambitious, because they will never threaten the kingdom. And
when you give your wish to the King, you forget you ever had that wish. And so you live with the hollowness for the rest of your life. Unless your wish is granted, you live with the hollowness of never knowing what your true wishes are. You don’t know what your greatest desires and hopes, dreams and aspirations are because he takes those away and also wants to give those back to the people. And that’s a very, very grown up theme. And so I was looking at the way King King magnifico, especially his performances in his songs in
which they constantly continue to develop his character. Chris Pine plays this beautifully. It’s really well-done where you start to see, he’s not that his motivations are not necessarily evil, but they are not benevolent in terms of him looking out for other people. He has a truly singular ideology about what is best, what is the best way to rule his kingdom. And he doesn’t believe anyone else should have control of that except for himself. So he has very fascist ideas and that he also, when he’s singing his songs and he’s doing his solos, it’s very clear
he’s narcissistic, very, very narcissistic, fascist type ruler who doesn’t listen to anyone but himself, and then delves deeper and deeper into the darkness until he’s tapping in the forbidden magic and spending his time trying to stamp out any opposition and and then crushing everyone’s hopes and aspirations so that he can stand alone as the ruler with no one ever questioning him. He’s very, very particular about anyone questioning his motivations, his rules. They should just be grateful and thankful for him. And you see where I have to wear this tinfoil hat because I was like, I
was telling my husband was like, shit, shit, this is what this movie’s about. fuck. I don’t want to be one of those conspiracy freaking YouTubers. Right? But I think that that’s what it is. And I have I’m not saying it’s bad. I am not saying it’s bad, but if you look at it on their 18th birthday, they go through a ceremony, you know, very much like on our 18th birthdays. We now have the right to vote and and in this kingdom, you give up all of your hopes and desires and your aspirations in life, and
you give you relinquish that control over to the king. And therefore you have no you have no autonomy to an agency. You just are living mindlessly in this kingdom and with any any, you know, with anybody who has aspirations, constantly being dealt with by having your wishes removed. Right. Or having your..your…your wish relinquished on your 18th birthday and Asha and her friends, they’re kind of like her and her little crew there. They’re like the seven dwarves, but they’re more like her traverse friendship group, which is I’m not I love I love to see diversity in
films, but man, sometimes it just seems a bit much is like, it’s like they’re literally checking off every single box, every single us. Like, that person, you know, she’s using a cane and that one has glasses and that one’s short and that one’s a little bit, maybe a little gender non-binary, you know, you, you just see it, you see it and you’re like, Well, I would really wish you wouldn’t just throw those characters in if you’re I mean, it’s nice that they’re included, but it almost feels like it’s, you know, it seems a bit obvious
and I feel like that that that stuff should be more organic. And I like that Disney keeps trying at least addressing these things. But man, they have failed so far at actually implementing. And so Asha and her, her, her, her friends, which I’m this the other thing, there’s this diverse cast. They’re all staff. They’re all staff. They’re not they’re not people in positions of power and they they all decide to band with Asha and rise up against the power. And so they do. And they get all the rest of the citizens to realize the that
the King, magnifico is actually a narcissistic fascist leader. And they want control in their lives. They want to gain their wishes back and and feel something in life again and feel like they have control over their own destiny. And so they all start a revolution. These kids all start a revolution. And the townspeople all rise up against the king and were able to overthrow him. And even the Queen. Queen Maya joins their cause, and she helps to rise up against the king as well, because she’s like, Well, he’s just lost to the cause. I can’t
help him. He is never going to change. There’s nothing we can do. He’s a narcissist. Narcissist don’t change. You can’t make him better. He’s already gone too far to the dark side. He has tapped in to forbidden magic. Therefore he can’t be saved. And so in the end, they trap him in his. His magic wand in this little glass, very much like the the the the magic mirror in Snow White. And he’s locked up. Lock him up. He’s locked up. And then the queen becomes the ruler. Gay patriarchy is gone and matriarchy. And I have
again it’s not that I’m I’m against those types of stories it’s just so weird that that such a strongly adult themes are presented in the most I think the most gay movie Disney has done in a very, very long time since maybe Bambi and Winnie the Pooh. So I, I was just like, God, they did that. Do I like it or do not like that that they did that? I’m not sure because I feel like if they if they were going to do that, they should have done it a little bit more cleverly. And that
they and I feel like it was just a theme that they wanted to tap into, the writers wanted to have. And he’s like, you know, the for Frozen, they were very heavily into the theme of sisterhood and also embracing, embracing your differences in life, something that makes you very different, like Elsa’s frozen powers is not necessarily a bad thing, which a lot of people think is a now analogous for being gay. That’s the theory. And then this one, you know, they have this clear theme about not giving away all of not trusting all of your
future hopes and dreams to a narcissistic fascist leader. okay. Fancy. You know, maybe that’s just maybe maybe that is the tin foil theory, right? Like, maybe I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, but I swear, if you see this film, you’ll find that it’s just bizarrely has these very grown up ideas, you know, especially about revolution and fighting the power and toppling, you know, a male driven, singular, essentially a singular ID ideology that is driven by narcissism and control and trying to take back, you know, power for yourself in order to pursue your
own dreams and have opportunities, have the opportunities to to explore your own, you know, ideas for the future and saying that anything is possible. Don’t let don’t let the man king magnifico tell you that you can’t do that or that that you know that because that might lead to something bad. Pursue it pursue your dreams and yeah and then Queen Maya she she you know she turns against her husband to help the people, which is great. But she doesn’t shed a single tear for her husband. She’s just like and yeah, we’re just going to lock
that guy up and. well, you know, like, she didn’t. She didn’t care. She. She gave him no shit. She was like, Yep, I’m the leader now. Yay! Everything’s going to be great now. I was like, You have a problem with the fact that, you know, you have to deal with the fact that your husband is now locked up because he turns psycho like a full psychopath in a psychopathic mode. Now she’s like, I’m cool with that. That’s good, you know? And then Usher becomes the fairy godmother and, you know, she’s there to help other people
pursue the things in life that can make their themselves happy and make their dreams come true. You know, when you wish upon a star, anything’s possible. La Revolucion. All right, guys, let me know what you guys think. I am not one of those people who’s like, Disney is trying to have propaganda against, you know, indoctrinate our young children, blah, blah, because I’m just like, No, that’s that’s if your concern is that your kids are being indoctrinated, do not let them watch media, period. Right? They’re being indoctrinated. One censor the other by everything, every media out
there, you know, even just like them watching fantasy cartoons or fairy tales, you know, those are all stories which influence your children. And they’re the those those ideas become part of their psyche when they when they witness those things. And so I’m not I’m not one of those people who is anti Disney. But it was just one of those things where I’m like, that that makes more sense now as to why I was so confused about why such incredibly mature themes are presented in this. And yet what I’m given is like, you know, a film
that I feel like a 2 to 5 year olds should be watching. So, yeah, I mean, I, I don’t want to be that person who is all tinfoil hat and and shouting at the top of my lungs about how Disney is destroying our children. Because I think that’s bullshit. I think we’re destroying our children on our own just fine by allowing them to be raised by freaking apps and YouTube and all sorts of other things we could talk about and go into, which would actually get me canceled, which, you know, please don’t cancel me for
this. Just yeah, I was really concerned about bringing those ideas up in this review because I don’t want to be part of that narrative on YouTube that is super conspiracy theorist about how Hollywood is, you know, just brainwashing our children, blah, blah, blah. You know, like I, I don’t buy it. I just don’t. I think media has it’s it’s its voice and it has its influence and even more so now on children than ever before. And if you don’t like what a movie is saying to your children, don’t let them watch it. That’s all there
is to it. All right, guys, thanks so much for watching. And if you’d like to watch Warning, click right here. Right here to watch now. Until next time, see you on the flip side, Channel Theme Song
