Disney released a new motion picture in 2023 called Wish, which aimed to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The theme of the movie was ‘wishing.’ As it was Disney’s 100th anniversary, they hoped the movie would do well in theaters. However, the movie flopped terribly.
The movie follows Asha, an 18-year-old Afro-Latina villager who is determined to restore the forgotten wishes of her family and those belonging to the kingdom of Rosas. Asha’s friends and kingdom show a strong sense of teamwork, which is one of the main parts of the movie. They need to remove the evil powers of the kingdom by removing the magic user, which is revealed at the end.
The movie is mainly displayed in 2D animations, making it look like a coloring on paper, despite the beginning and the end depicting a storybook in 3D. This shocked the movie fans because the movie wasn’t as 3D as the trailer. The trailer itself was the most-watched studio film since Frozen 2. According to several articles following the release of Wish, Disney animation studios hoped to return to 2D animation after decades of 3D animation. The 2D animation brings back the feelings of storybook telling; at the beginning of the film, it shows the opening of a book, which indicates that the movie will be in 2D as it is hand-drawn and animated. The problem that fans have with Disney switching between 2D and 3D animation is that Disney has been known for its 2D animation since 1923. In 1937, one of the only short films with sound and animation was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Now, in the era of 3D computer animation, the studio has faced challenges in keeping with competitors. Wish intended to revive the studio’s legacy by returning to its original roots: a fairy tale princess musical. Instead, it faced many issues, such as poor visuals, uninteresting songs, underdeveloped chanters, and a reliance on lousy humorous references.
Disney is also best known for their musicals. Disney creates catchy songs from hit movies like “Frozen” and “Encanto ”. Hits such as “We “ Let It Go” or “Don’t Talk about Bruno.”. The soundtrack for Wish falls flat. The movie committed another crime: a forgettable Disney song. The underwhelming impact of the songs from Wish is apparent. The lack of memorable contrasts with the typical Disney singing legacy of being catchy and iconic. While the songs may have been of decent quality, they fail to leave a lasting impression. The film also left many references to other Disney films for its 100th anniversary. Some of these easter eggs were good, such as when Asha looked up towards the sky to see the lights like in Tangled.
However, these references were also the reason that made the film worse as well. One remarkable reference was Asha’s friends, based on the Seven Dwarfs. It would have been good if it had been shown in little snippets of the dwarfs, but their personalities are based on the personas from the 1927 film and lack character development. This problem with Wish is an indicator of the broader challenges faced by the Disney company this year. In 2019, they had seven films grossing over $1 billion. This year, they suffered five flops, two films that broke even, and one hit that didn’t hit $1 billion at the box office. The two films that broke even means that there was no profit or loss. This decline in film audiences is evident: viewers are no longer willing to watch something because it is familiar; they want something different and high quality. Slapping a company name doesn’t make a movie a hit anymore.
Overall, Wish wanted to be another fantastic Disney movie, but it didn’t hit all the marks this time.
The views of this author are not reflective of the paper.
Sources:
‘Wish’ Had One Of Disney’s Worst Openings Ever For An Animated Movie—Here’s Why
Wish Debuts On Rotten Tomatoes With Disney’s Worst Score In 18 Years
