'Wish' movie review: Ariana DeBose is a powerhouse in a musical that owns its Disney-ness
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Letâs be real: If you hate all things Disney or are a big olâ cynic, youâre not going to like the new animated musical âWish.â So go ahead and move on to another movie review. Perhaps âKillers of the Flower Moonâ or âThe Holdoversâ â both are really good!
OK. Still here? Then youâll probably find something to love about âWishâ (â â â out of four; rated PG; in theaters now), a tune-filled, big-hearted storybook fantasy directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn thatâs the most rousingly Disney effort this side of âFrozen.â Even for hardcore fans, âWishâ comes close to overdoing it with the, well, Disney-ness. Thatâs when Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (âWest Side Storyâ) becomes the movieâs saving grace, as a likable, idealistic teen heroine with plucky verve and powerhouse vocals.
The island kingdom of Rosas, in the Mediterranean Sea, is ruled by King Magnifico (Chris Pine), a sorcerer with a tragic backstory who offers sanctuary and protection. In exchange, Magnifico keeps safe each personâs wish â the âbestâ part of oneâs heart â and hosts ceremonies granting them on special occasions.
Asha (DeBose) hopes her grandpa's wish comes true on his 100th birthday. And in addition to working as a tour guide â she helpfully runs down everything you need to know in the flamenco-flavored âWelcome to Rosasâ â she has an interview to become Magnifico's apprentice. Rosaâs an awkward bundle of nerves, but she impresses the king, and he shows her the room containing the multitude of wishes, housed in sparkling bubbles. She sees a few, including her grandpaâs, but Magnifico becomes enraged when she inquires about granting it. (He only allows wishes that will help the kingdom, and is pretty much a control freak about the whole thing.)
Crestfallen, Asha ventures out at night and wishes on a star â and while weâve seen that Disney plot device plenty of times before, at least it sounds excellent in the anthemic âThis Wish.â This declaration of her compassionate desire to make life better for her people leads to the arrival of Star, a rambunctious, sparkly little ball of energy. Its power gives voice to a host of animals and living things â including Ashaâs newly suave-talking pet goat Valentino (Alan Tudyk) â but also leads the paranoid Magnifico to use forbidden magic to counteract what he perceives as a threat.
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At a time when awards-season contenders are beginning to test your bladderâs will to live with lengthy run times, âWishâ clocks in at a tight 95 minutes. But thereâs not much character development besides Asha, and Magnifico goes from âhe seems coolâ to âwhat a jerk!â in record time.
The original songs by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice are solid. âWelcome to Rosasâ is nicely peppy, Pine turns on the snarling smarm for villain song âThis Is the Thanks I Get?!â and âThis Wishâ is the obvious highlight, soon to become a staple on many a little girlâs streaming playlist. The movieâs an effective vehicle for DeBoseâs considerable talents: The Broadway veteran imbues Asha with an unmistakable, magnetic warmth and in her own way, sheâs as full-throated a force of nature as Idina Menzelâs ice queen Elsa.
âWishâ wraps up Disneyâs 100th-anniversary celebration, and it's pulled out all the stops, right up until the not-so-bitter end, with nods to animated classics and characters. (There's a reason why Asha has seven color-coordinated friends.) Most lean clever rather than cheap, and the film always has youngsters in mind, so theyâll likely remember Valentino conducting a Busby Berkeley-style chicken extravaganza rather than Magnificoâs petty authoritarianism.
You also wonât be able to get the strains of âWhen You Wish Upon a Starâ out of your head, since bits of the melody are sprinkled throughout the film. âWishâ entertains and unabashedly owns being a safe paean to old-school Disney, shamelessly aiming for all your nostalgic feels.
And it makes no difference who you are.