I Feel Sorry For the Writers of Disney’s ‘Wish’: A Review (With Spoilers)

There’s been plenty of reviews recently of the latest Disney Princess instalment ‘Wish’. They range from overt positivity to finding it mediocre to slamming it as the worst thing Disney has ever produced. Many times I’ve considered not bothering to write this review for that very reason. I mean, what could I say that would add anything to the conversation? Why would people care about my opinion on something already well discussed? Well, as I realised, I could add at least one other thing. Something important, from my point of view.

            Before I do get to that though, I’d like to take a bit of time to actually discuss my feelings on the actual film. As usual, I predominantly focus on writing quality (as it’s my area of expertise and interest) but I just quickly wanted to say some things about the other parts. The animation, as people have already said, feels lacklustre—but not terrible. The backgrounds are very much the selling point in terms of uniqueness or that ‘Disney’ quality but they use quite muted colours that can clash occasionally with the 3D characters. Personally, I only had problems with this at the beginning and then I got used to it and stopped noticing it as much. It certainly didn’t reach ‘The Good Dinosaur’ levels of distracting, where all I could focus on was the beautiful backgrounds clashing with the extremely cartoonish character models. As for Asha, her friends and most of the main characters, I thought they were very well designed—if not a bit overly animated. The background characters I would agree, however, looked like they’d been taken from a Disney Junior show with a lower budget like Sofia the First (not slamming Sofia, as I loved that show when it was on, but it’s animation isn’t exactly to the same quality as cinema-releases).

            As for the music, I find most of it is music that grows on you. I find myself singing all of the songs at different times and I do have some songs added to my playlist. The issue with the music, I feel, comes in two ways: A. It doesn’t connect the plot and characters the way songs in musicals/films should (it doesn’t drive anything or move anything forward, making it feel like a film that’s had songs shoe-horned in places) and B. there’s a clash of genres to voices. For example, in ‘At All Costs’ (a song I would urge you to listen to the demo of as it’s just beautiful)— ‘At All Costs’ is a pop ballad sung by a female lead singing in Broadway style and a male lead singing as a character actor (putting on a voice and singing as an animated character). This leads them all to clash on each side so the beauty of the original song dies. When I first went to see ‘Wish’, I actually went to see it in French and I thought this song was amazing. In fact, the majority of the songs (bar a couple) sounded fantastic in French as they were sung by singers who matched each other and the genre. That’s not to say Chris Pine or Ariana DeBose aren’t good singers. They’re very good at singing they’re respective styles but they’re not singing the actual song.

            When I first listened to the headline song a.k.a. the main song of the story, ‘So I Make This Wish’, even in French I found that it sounded empty—that it was a song that cried for harmonies and more voices to match the melody. As it turned out, I was exactly right, as towards the end the ensemble does indeed sing this song and they sound fantastic. This song was made for multiple people and so it makes sense why it sounds empty with one voice… But it doesn’t change the fact that it sounds empty with one voice and it’s that version that’s been put forward as the main ‘character-driven’ headline song.

I don’t have much else to say about the music. As I said I actually enjoy listening to the soundtrack. Yes, even the main villain song, which I find to be fun (barring a couple lines which I’ll agree aren’t the best written—something copied in the song sung by all the animals which also has some questionable lines along with some great ones). ‘You’re a Star’ is a fun, upbeat number but is highly redundant and adds nothing to the actual story. I like it as a song but, again I have to agree with another person, who said it sounded like it belonged in ‘Sofia the First’ or another Disney Junior show. That doesn’t mean it’s bad (Sofia has some great songs) but it’s not been used in the right way.

            The only other extra thing, that’s not about the writing, that I’d like to say is that in the French version ‘Star’ goes by ‘Etoile’ (a name I have continued to call him because I really like it for whatever reason, even though it means the same thing) but then, once—only once in the entire film—Asha introduces him as ‘Il s’appelle Star’ (‘His name is Star’). Really confused me and I don’t understand why the translator did it… Unless they forgot that he’d been Etoile the rest of the time? I don’t know. He still remains Etoile to me anyway.

            Okay, finally, I’m here. I’m going to talk about the writing. I think this writing, rather than being horrible or the worst thing ever written by a human being, is a classic case of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. When I finished the film and the credits scrolled by I wasn’t surprised to learn that there had been four writers behind it. Because, unlike other people who read it as AI, I read it completely as a film written by many different writers—each with their own ideas, each with their own wants and needs and each getting carried away with their ideas even if they clashed with each other.

Asha, whilst not the most terribly written of all the characters, is also just not well written or explored. It’s not because she has no defining personality (as I’ve seen many people say) but because she has too many. She has so many personality traits and so much backstory thrown at her that she stops feeling like a real character/person and starts feeling like a checklist that is being driven by the plot. She’s ‘quirky’, she’s determined, she’s anxious, she’s courageous, she’s driven, she’s a good friend, she’s an absent friend, she’s a caring daughter/granddaughter, but also refuses to bake a cake with no explanation. She dreams of being the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but she only wants to so her Grandfather can get a wish, but now she doesn’t care about being the Apprentice and only cares to get the wishes back… She’s magical, she’s not. She has a tragic backstory but she’s not affected much by it… No, she is affected by it. It all becomes too much. Too many ideas thrown at one character who then starts to feel like she has no personality because she’s constantly changing who she is with no reflection. We’re never allowed to just sit with her and get to know her, and she’s never allowed to sit with any other character to get to know her relationship with them deeper. Everything is told or implied to us but never overtly shown. We can’t love her like we love other Disney characters because we don’t know her. Think of your favourite Disney character. You can define them in three words. You can’t do that with Asha because she doesn’t have one personality… She has multiple.

Now, does that mean I think Asha is the main problem the film has? No, it doesn’t. On rewatching the film in English I realised that the problem lies with the villain. Magnifico, similarly to Asha, has many traits thrown at him—and they quite often stand in contradiction to each other. He’s shown to be both evil and only craving power, but also caring and wants to help people and not repeat his tragic past (a past we’re never told about properly so it adds nothing to our understanding of him—a very amateurish way to treat a backstory). He’s both trying to be a sympathetic villain and an overt villain and those two things clash. He can’t be both. It doesn’t work which leaves all of his story, especially his ending, feeling unsatisfactory. Why should I be happy he’s trapped in a mirror forever? I thought he was cursed by the weird book he happened to have (a.la. Multiverse of Madness) and couldn’t help what he was doing? Why did we say he couldn’t be saved? How was this supposed to feel satisfactory to see our ‘heroes’ be so unempathetic?

Again, it reads like a project with too many writers who couldn’t decide or agree what they wanted their villain to be. Somebody clearly wanted him to have depth, for him to be a villain who had started off his rein wanting to help—and somebody wanted him to represent old style Disney villains who just… were villains. Neither is wrong but they can’t exist in the same character. They stand in opposition to each other.

Personally, I would have preferred they went this way (the way I originally thought it was supposed to be before seeing it in English): Magnifico started out as well-meaning. He learned the power of the stars to help people live their dreams but the magic came at a price. Every time he granted a wish he was weakened/made ill, meaning he physically couldn’t grant more than that. However, even knowing this, the people of Rosas demanded more of him. More people moved there every day, asking for more and more until eventually he couldn’t handle it anymore. He needed more power and so he turned to the book of darker magic. It corrupted him and led to him destroying the wishes of anyone who asked too much of him—of anyone who didn’t appreciate the gifts he was giving them. Leading to Asha, who I would make his Sorcerer’s Apprentice through more of the film, to wish on a star for help to grant more wishes that the King couldn’t grant… The star falls, the wishes start to be granted and the King can feel each one. The King, seeing this happening and now fully starting to be corrupted by the magic of the book, longs to find the cause to fix his ailment. He figures out Asha and Etoile/Star and comes for them, desperate to take Star’s magic and heal himself—or to be the all-powerful granter his people had demanded him to be—but Asha and her friends/the Queen were working on a way to save him… etc. etc. etc. It could even lead to the ‘You’re a Star’ rhetoric done by the original concept, including the King. It feels more complete. The King and Asha feel more like actual people and are consistent. And, equally as important, it would allow us to sit with these characters and get to know them properly without dashing all over the place.

Because that’s also this film’s other problem—it’s pacing is too quick. It doesn’t allow itself to sit in one place as it’s determined to fit in as many of the writers’ ideas as possible in the short time. You don’t get to sit with the characters as they go about their daily lives—to really get to know any of them, which means all potential disappears into the background in favour of getting through the story as fast as possible.

The friends had great potential. They had many lines that made me laugh and I longed to see more of them and to earn their ending/uprising. But instead, somehow, they ended up with less screen-time and thus less personality than even the original seven dwarves they were based on. We barely got to know Asha’s mother, grandfather, or even her father which was very quickly brought up and dismissed. The writers didn’t allow us to know them or love them. They used them as nothing more than plot-points to the end goal… which is a shame, as they too also had a lot of potential.

I have always been in the belief that the most important part of any story you tell should be the characters. They should drive the plot as every little thing they are and every little thing they do will lead to their decisions—and ultimately will lead to the next stage of the story. Characters are the memories of a story that will last. They will imprint themselves on people more than any plot can do. When you talk about a film or TV show or book, even years later, do you talk about the plot or do you bring up the characters you love? Do people talk about the walk to Mordor or do they talk about Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf and Sam? Do people talk about the many battles between Voldemort and the Harry Potter characters or do they talk about Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Bellatrix etc.? Wish didn’t allow any of the characters to imprint on us the way they should and could have done because they didn’t allow any of them the time to do so. The only character that I felt any care for was Etoile/Star and part of that is for their sheer cuteness (and also the turn they do whilst smiling that makes me laugh anytime I see it). And yet, even Etoile/Star, wasn’t explained enough for me to fully understand them—what exactly are their powers and what are the limits? They can’t grant the wishes, but they came to grant Asha’s, but they’re going to take all the wishes from Magnifico, but they can make animals talk, but they can make a magic wand which can make things grow, and they can make Asha a fairy godmother? It’s all too confused as if the writers themselves couldn’t come to a decision and, as with Asha and Magnifico, just decided to throw it all at the screen.

Now, you may be wondering—but LO, how is any of this new? This is exactly what other reviews have said. Yes, that’s true. A lot of people have pointed out the same points as me—barring one thing. And that’s that, rather than feeling angry or bitter at the writers, I instead feel sorry for them.

When you’re close to a project, even when working with multiple different writers, it can be hard to see the wood from the trees. You spend so long writing and planning that the weaknesses may not be as prominent to you as they will be to others. I’m sure many writers go through this. I know I have. A story you’ve believed was great, when you create some distance and come back, hasn’t been as good as you remember. It had potential but, you realise, it’s not as good as it could be. It can be convoluted. It can be too full of ideas and you can have been too desperate to get to a scene you really like so you’ve speed-ran through others. It can be hard to spot this when you’re that close to a project… And if you haven’t had the time to step away and create that distance then you could be entirely relying on other people around you to point out your mistakes.

Obviously, I don’t know what the schedule or the timeline was like for this project. I don’t know whether other factors got in the way or whether the writers really didn’t care about what they were doing—however, I don’t believe that Disney would hire incompetent writers. Even Lightyear and Strange World, whilst not being well received and very average films, weren’t poorly written. The fact that I can see the potential behind Wish to such an extent that I’m so disappointed would show there was some talent behind the film… but something got in the way of it’s success. Something failed the writers.

I’m not saying the writers aren’t to blame. Ultimately, they wrote the script, they have to take ownership for it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be mean or horrible to them about it. They put the energy and courage into writing something and it didn’t turn out well—but nobody else helped them either. Nobody else of the entire sheer large quantity of people who must have seen, heard, or worked on this film said anything to them. They didn’t give them the chance to see their mistakes and fix them. Ultimately, yes, it’s the writer’s failure but that doesn’t mean they take on all that by themselves. They’re not alone in this (unless, of course, they have such egos nobody would dare tell them otherwise—which does happen but I would be very surprised if they happened with writers in such a big company).

I felt this same feeling when I saw Multiverse of Madness—it’s a mixture of disappointment and feeling sorry for the writers. Personally, as a writer myself, if I got all the way to the end and discovered how poor my work had turned out, I would be angry (at myself and others), guilt-ridden and miserable… And I don’t want anyone who worked on Wish to feel that way. The great thing about writing is you can always get better… And based on the potential I could visibly see in this film, I know that the writers of Wish can.

            Okay, after all that, I really wanted to end on a positive so I’m now going to list a few things I really liked about Wish:

• Etoile/Star is adorable. I love them and they would be the main merch I would consider buying from this film. There were multiple times I laughed when they were on screen (including the smile-turn, playing with the wool and messing with Valentino).
• Simon’s betrayal. Unlike a lot of reviews I’ve read, I actually really enjoyed it. I saw it signposted subtlety and although I agree it could’ve been more overt I didn’t have any problem with how it was played. The only problem I really thought it had was the instant redemption at the end as we really hadn’t got to know Simon enough up to that point. I think, in the better, more consistent version I plotted out earlier, Simon’s betrayal could’ve still been a great plot point—if not even better.
• Dhalia representing disabled people without ever bringing up that she was disabled or it being a defining part of her character is great writing. She was a person with a disability, more than a ‘disabled person’. I also really appreciated her eventual closeness to the Queen (so much so that the Queen rescued her from Magnifico) and I wish that this had been explored more. What was Dhalia’s job in the castle? Why was an under-18-year-old entrusted with feeding the King? In fact, an explanation of all these children’s jobs would have been beneficial as I wasn’t sure what most of them did in the castle—including Asha who only did her tour job once.
• The main ensemble number, where they finally stood up to Magnifico, was a strong empowering number which—if it had been explained and been earned—would’ve been a great final number. As it is, it didn’t make much sense—but it was a very uplifting composition.
• Star’s mission to touch ‘Grumpy’/Gabo was very subtle and, I realised later, is implied to be why they were all ‘stars’ and could stand up to Magnifico. Again, a bit too subtle and unexplained.
• If you pause very quickly when Magnifico goes into the staff you can see the Magic Mirror’s face from Snow White show up (I haven’t seen anyone else mention this and I wanted to see if anyone else noticed it?).
• References I enjoyed: The Fairy Godmother’s cloak Asha wore (don’t know where she got it though as it just appeared), the Magic Mirror from above. However I would have preferred that they cut the not-too-subtle, clumsy references like ‘Never-land’ etc. And I would also have preferred that they name the Peter Pan character, Peter, but not dress him as Peter Pan as it clashed with everything around it and stood out far too much… And, got to say, was not a fan of that deer being called Bambi.
• Pre-magicified-Valentino was very cute and I really liked watching him chase after Etoile/Star behind Asha.

However, as I’ve just remembered some negatives, I’m sorry, I have to bring them up:

• The speech between the King and the Queen. They don’t talk like normal people with each other, and it doesn’t sound natural for either of the voice actors. They need to use contractions ‘they’re, can’t etc.’—stop trying to enunciate words. They weren’t born royalty, they don’t have voices it works with and it makes them sound very stilted. Even royal family members use contractions (even Jane Austen etc. uses them). It’s natural.
• They use very cheesy/cringey ways to describe emotion which are almost Shakespearean drama: ‘my love’… And I’ve forgotten the others but they do this a lot and again it sounds unnatural. Especially as the characters don’t talk like this any other time.
• They overly explain things, e.g. Asha describing the light to Valentino ‘I felt sad and scared and… etc.’, Magnifico explaining exactly what crushing the Wish felt like. And yet don’t explain anything about the magic (limitations and actual abilities), where Magnifico got his powers from, the long relationship between him and his Queen, how old they are and when Asha’s grandfather gave his wish away if so—and everything to do with when our lead character’s family moved here and why (as well as the backstory of other people). How long has the kingdom existed? How do they get the word out about their existence? I have many questions… which means they left a lot open (including the mysterious ‘tragic backstory’ that’s never explained of our antagonist).
• How did Asha’s Dad earn a living as a philosopher? How did Magnifico both know about it and not know him that well? What has the stars got to do with philosophy? Unfortunately, I don’t think philosopher was the right choice for her father as there’s nobody more likely to question all of this kingdom’s system than a philosopher. Personally I think it would have been better if he was an astronomer or even a previous sorcerer’s apprentice/palace worker.
• Asha tells her family to hide on the islet (an obvious place to hide) and instead they sit in the boat at the edge of the islet.
• Why did the horses listen to Valentino? They weren’t under a spell. And if it’s because they trusted Asha etc. and didn’t trust Magnifico (again something unearned) why did they continue to work for Magnifico and his soldiers?
• Alex Meyers on YouTube brought this up—but why did Magnifico seemingly watch the teenagers trying to open his roof for a long time before capturing Star/Etoile?
• The roof opening with pulleys makes little sense. The only person, we’re told, that goes into that room is Magnifico. In fact, he’s the only one who can open the doors (other than Star who’s only just arrived). Even if we argue that Magnifico does let people in to that room, which the Queen tells Asha he doesn’t, why would he let other people open his roof and not just use his magic? Apparently the pulley system only works with multiple people pulling at the same time (something proven false anyway as Gabo jumps long before anyone else) so Magnifico can’t open it by himself—in which case, why have the pulley system? And if the kids were wrong and they didn’t need to open them at the same time, why didn’t they open one/two/three at a time together? In short, the roof pulley system exists only for plot reasons and makes little sense.
• Did touching the book make Magnifico evil or was it casting the spell from it? I would have thought the latter (especially as he’d already touched it earlier in the film) but then the Queen made Dhalia and herself put on special oil to stop being corrupted when touching the book… So… What?
• The Queen seemed to know Asha and care for Asha quite a bit at the beginning but then seemed to have no connection to her. Again, there needs to be more consistency and explanations.
• Valentino didn’t need to talk… None of the animals did. It added nothing to the story.

Sorry for finishing on more negatives. Writing the positives out made me realise so much I’d forgotten before. I should say, as well, another problem I had in both the French and English version was the sheer speed the characters spoke. Of course, I’m not fluent in French but I had been to see the Marvels only a week or so before and had understood the majority of what was happening. In Wish however, well let’s just say I’d convinced myself that the story I’ve written of the King above on the re-write was what was happening… Only to discover after leaving that that wasn’t the case. Weirdly, until that point, I’d thought him a very relatable and understandable villain that I quite liked—turned out I just liked the version I’d imagined when watching. In the English version we found we had to rely on the subtitles to figure out some of what was being said for sheer speed of speech too.

            My last point is going to be positive because I refuse to finish on more negatives. Erm… I liked the starry versions of other Disney characters at the end, though as someone else said, why did they seemingly erase Meet the Robinsons? That film is actually very well written…

            Thank you for reading and I hope I managed to be as fair as I possibly could. The truth is, even though I would rate this film as a 2/3 star out of 5, I have no problem if you love it. I do think some of the ideas, designs, songs and characters had a great deal of potential and if you love them for that potential then carry on doing it. There’s nothing I can/could say that should make you not enjoy it. With so much chance of being negative in the world, accept anything that makes you feel happy. As long as it doesn’t hurt you or anyone else, it doesn’t matter. You do you. That’s literally what you were born to do. I hope you’re having a great day and I’ll see you again later (hopefully for my Percy Jackson Disney Plus series review).

Signed,

The Literary Onion

P.S. Isn’t being a writer hard? I’ve had many projects on the go, some for years, and most are still works-in-progress or are sitting on my laptop as I worry about whether it’s good enough to show anyone. It’s an awful feeling. However, even though that lack of confidence is a real hinderance, it also has a great plus. Because I have very little ego about my work I’m far more open to listen to constructive-criticism and constantly working/wanting to improve. The worst writers I’ve ever worked with are those with too big of an ego. Often they’re the ones with the worst standard of writing too. If you’re a writer, keep being humble and keep learning. We can only get better if we’re open to learning.

            I’ve seen many people over the internet talking about a previous plot for Wish that would’ve had Star (called Starboy) be a romantic interest and the King and Queen being an evil duo against them both. Whilst, I agree that could have worked as a different story, it is in no way the saving grace of this film. Neither Etoile/Star or the Queen turning against her husband were the faults of this film and neither of those things could have saved it. The only thing, I can imagine, that sticking with this previous plot could have done is (depending on how much the writers were invested in that idea) driven the writers more and be more passionate for the project… But again, it depends how passionate they were about both ideas. Not that it wouldn’t have been good—and you can carry on making amazing animatics for the idea—but I just wanted to say that it would be in no way a fix. The writing in Wish just wasn’t quite there… And sometimes that happens (though we’d usually hope to discover this before animating and releasing it to the public). However, keep on dreaming, and let’s do as Walt Disney (and Meet the Robinsons) always said: ‘Keep Moving Forward’.