Wish

2023 is the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Pictures and Wish is the movie that celebrates the studio's centennial. In their latest animated project, Ariana DeBose voices a young girl named Asha who lives in a kingdom whose king grants a wish from one of his subjects once a month with the caveat that all other desires are forgotten by those he hasn't fulfilled. When she is given the chance to be King Magnifico's apprentice Asha learns that he only grants desires that won't risk his rule, including her grandfather's long awaited wish to become a musician. Unable to fight back against Magnifico, Asha's wish towards a shooting star leads to the star to become alive and leads to the two and Asha's friends to rebel against Magnifico who starts to use dark magic when he feels threatened. As Disney is well known for adapting old fairy tale stories, its animation style is a pretty good, though not perfect, combination of traditional and computer generated animation. It gives it a very storybook feel that would often open the early Disney films like Snow White and Pinocchio. One flaw is that some of the movement by the characters at the start does feel a bit stiff, but does improve as it goes. But the designs, look, lighting, color, and backgrounds do look incredibly stunning thanks to cinematographers Rob Dressel and Adolph Lusinsky. The initial story is perfect for celebrating Disney's 100th anniversary, and Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore do a great job at showcasing the studio's legacy through many great references, but it feels very cliche. Magnifico's turn to villainy felt like it needed more time, certain aspects of Asha's journey are a bit bland, and often certain choices the characters make are done just to reference Disney's past. However, Lee and Lusinsky do manage to make the characters likable enough to at least not make them boring and keep them endearing. Normally, Disney animated films excel best with the music, and while Dave Metzger's score is good, sadly the songs from Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice aren't the strongest. The opening song where Asha welcomes new people to Rosas isn't too strong and Magnifico's villain song is just okay but not highly memorable. The best one is definitely Asha's "This Wish", which gets a reprise with the other cast members, and manages to be highly memorable but also feeling like it needed more. But if there's one thing that you can't take away from this movie are the strong performances from its cast. Alongside DeBose you have Chris Pine having a fun time as a villain, Victor Garber giving a lot of warmth as Asha's grandfather, and Alan Tudyk stealing the movie as Asha's goat. While Wish may not be the best film to celebrate its parent company's centennial, that shouldn't take away from what is a wonderful looking, but very flawed, movie. Over all: 84%

2023 top list so far:

1. Oppenheimer

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

3. Godzilla Minus One

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

5. Asteroid City

6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

7. Blue Beetle

8. Barbie

9. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

10. Elemental

11. Air

12. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

13. Creed III

14. John Wick: Chapter 4

15. Scream VI

16. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

17. Killers of the Flower Moon

18. M3GAN

19. Dumb Money

20. The Marvels

21. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

22. Cocaine Bear

23. Knock at the Cabin

24. The Flash

25. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

26. Wish

27. Renfield

28. Fast X

29. The Little Mermaid 2023

30. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

31. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

32. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania