When You "Wish" Upon a Star
Disney’s Wishful Movie for their 100th Anniversary
Whatever you’ve heard about this movie, whether you’ve seen the reviews online or the resounding, rallying disappointment from Disney fans across the board, I need you to not.
Just bear with me for a moment.
There were a lot of expectations for this movie as Asha (Ariana DeBose) entered the hallowed halls of the vault as a Disney princess. There were a lot of expectations for the culmination of Disney’s legacy as a company going 100 years strong. There was just…a lot riding on this movie, whether they meant it to or not— for the company and for the animation medium as a whole.
All in all? This is a fun movie. Definitely meant for kids. Not meant to redefine the industry or hold a torch to light the way for what the Disney company wants their monop— oof, I mean legacy, to be.
That’s a massive boot to fill, a humongous shadow to overcome. And for what it’s worth, I think they did their best with how content at the studios has been forced out in recent years. It’s not the greatest, it’s not the worst. It’s okay and it’s beautiful and there are moments where you can feel the artists wanting to say more and do more but those moments are quelled in the ensuing mass of the movie as a whole.
Watch it for yourself, and you’ll understand what I mean.
Asha wants everyone to be in charge of their dreams. To have agency, independence, a fire within them to rosy their days. Magnifico (Chris Pine) thinks people too stupid or incompetent to be able to do anything of the sort. If the real life billboards of his maniac grin and green-coded evilness didn’t give it away, it’s his self-absorption in the trailer that really tips it to the audience. He begins as a nuanced villain, but that immediately falls away as the temptation of power ruins him.
Asha’s goal is great, if a little on the nose, but she is our over-eager, zealous protagonist who cares too much and loves too hard. She isn’t fighting for herself, she is fighting for the people of Rosas and that makes her immediately likable. She believes in the best of people and I do too, I really do, and the solution they find for themselves is magical and perfect enough for how the story is going.
But…it lacks depth. It lacks the nuance and messiness of what it means to actually follow your dreams and to sometimes fail and oftentimes have to forget about them because following through is too painful a burden to bear.
It feels like a cop out. But it also feels morally right.
Walt Disney believed in the possibility of anything. To go and do things and be someone you want to be. At the end of the movie, every single character, whether we interacted with them or not, is given that opportunity to be.
It’s like the film is saying to follow your dreams no matter what. It’s not as clearly lined out yet hidden in the metaphors as Brad Bird’s “Ratatouille,” but it is a straight up reminder to be true to yourself. It doesn’t beat around the bush or try to sugarcoat it. It’s as straightforward as can be and as tactless as that is, I felt an overwhelming appreciation for knowing that the dream of dreaming is well and alive albeit often hidden in this prestigious company.
Disney’s 100th
Thematically, this movie is a perfect cup to hold all that Walt Disney wanted of his company. To tell stories. To make dreams come true.
If you can dream it, you can do it.
-Walt Disney
The short of “Once Upon a Studio” that supposedly plays before the movie in theaters (and is now available for streaming on Disney+) I think is the capstone legacy celebration. It brings so many characters to life from the hallowed halls of such an iconic studio and it tells a story at the same time.
One of resilience. Of compassion and heart and coming together to make stories come to life.
“Wish” brings those themes of dreamers to life, but it lacks the punch and emotional well. This is partly due to their characters being under developed on the screen and the assumption that the audience needs to be spoon fed themes in very straightforward song and dance numbers.
There are some fun Easter eggs we see throughout the film, callbacks to previous Disney films that are not ostentatious but do little to add to the story.
For all the expectations we had for this film, it went off with a bang but immediately fizzled out.
We are Stars
So FUCK everything I’ve been saying so far because WE ARE STARS DAHRLING!
That is the most gratifying and humble flex thing they could’ve done in this movie. We are all made of stars. Simple as that. 2+2. A truth that cannot, in no simple or complex words, be denied. We are stars. We are the pixie dust we see, the floating feelings we breathe into existence, the dreams we want to come true.
Everything is possible because we are possible.
There are no ifs, buts, or what abouts for this movie. It is not quiet in its support of following your dreams. Of reaching your full potential and being better.
The absolute love they share for the dreamers of this world is palpable and brings a tear to my eye.
Sure there will be bad days and sure success is never guaranteed.
But of all the places to be, all the stars to behold, you are here. You exist and you are so you can.
Realizing that that is the most important thing they wanted us to take away, in spite of all else, makes me realize how severe I am on the amazing work that they’ve done.
The animation is beautiful and the songs are fun. I laughed, I cried, I was entertained for the entirety of this movie. Is it a perfect movie? No.
But to expect perfection after allowing others the room for mistakes is not only contradictory but pathetic.
This movie is a reminder that you can and you should.
And if you fail then that’s okay. You tried.
And if your dream falls apart, that is also okay because, like how we are part of the stars and the boundless universe above— to dream and to dream and to dream; now that is truly infinite.