I am a big Disney fan, but I will admit they have been very hit-or-miss the last few years. Wish is released as part of the Disney 100 celebration, something that even this big Disney fan feels they have milked to death at this point! It had the look of a “classic Disney” movie and it had a talented team behind the camera, not to mention Chris Pine of whom I am a fan voicing one of the lead roles so I did have a bit of hope for Wish.
How to Download Wish
Wish was released on November 22, 2023. You should be able to download it from Disney Plus about 45 days after its theatrical premiere. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability If you’re a Disney fan, check out our reviews of The Little Mermaid, Strange World, and Elemental.
Wish: The Movie Review
Wish’s Familiarity and Visuals
Let me start with a positive statement. Wish is nowhere near as bad as many people are saying. Is it great, absolutely not, but it is far from being terrible. I think the fact that Wish feels like many other Disney movies on paper was perhaps something Disney thought people would get a kick out of, but in practice, it feels like a movie that we have all seen a million times before.
It takes place in the kingdom of Rosas. King Magnifico is the ruler of Rosas and he is a powerful sorcerer who can make his subject’s wishes come true. The trade-off here is that they have to “give up” their biggest desires and once a month a lucky person will get their wish and have it come true.
Exploring the Characters of Wish
On the surface, people seem happy. However, our heroine Asha has the chance to interview to become the apprentice to King Magnifico and she realizes that all is not what it seems! Asha makes her own wish on an actual star in the sky and this star comes down and is 100 percent merch bait from Disney. Hey, Star is cute and all, but this character was 100 percent made to sell toys.
Anyway, Star can make animals talk and Asha along with her now talking goat, Valentino try to free everyone’s wishes. Valentino is the star here for me, I thought that he was a lot of fun and the absolute highlight of the movie. Yet, in typical Disney fashion, you pretty much see his best bits in the trailer.
Artistic Style and Predictability
I thought that Wish looked great, it is hard to explain, but it kind of reminded me of the Spider-Verse movies. The thing with Wish having a different kind of art style is that it is not going to appeal to everyone. To be honest, the cool and unique way the movie looked made up for the rather lackluster and predictable-as-hell story in some ways.
Wish’s Easter Eggs: A Fun Disney 100 Celebration
The best thing about Wish and what made me excited to see it was the easter eggs As Wish is part of the Disney 100 celebration, there are 100 easter eggs hidden in the movie and I had a lot of fun trying to find them…. So much so that I was paying more attention to scanning each scene for the easter eggs than I was to the actual movie. The wife and I have already said that when this hits Disney Plus, we are going to have some fun and see who can find the most.
Final Thoughts on Wish
There is no way that Wish is ever going to rack my top Disney movies of all time, but I did not hate it. The gimmick of the 100 easter eggs was awesome and I thought that Valentino and Star had a lot of charm. It just feels like a movie where Disney was running out of ideas and just tried to throw some of their greatest hits together to make a story.
