Wish (Walt Disney Animation - November 2023)

[Disstevefan1]

That statement made me chuckle out loud.

From what I've seen in the trailers, you nailed it. Unfortunately, I think Disney relies far too heavily on that tired trope now. A girl who does goofy and crazy faces is supposed to equate to someone with a "fun!" personality who is "relatable" because she is not polished or poised. She's just as klutzy and awkward as you! Fun!

It's a young female personality that's getting a bit tired and overused at this point. Maybe it's past time to return to a princess that is naturally elegant and graceful? Because, you know, she's a royal princess and not the awkward girl in gym class?

At least just one traditional princess, and then they can go back to the "wacky and unpolished" trope for the next three or four movies to fulfill some bizarre internal company quota they must have for that tired stereotype.

Disney is moving away from princesses and moving toward heroines.

 

[TP2000]

Disney is moving away from princesses and moving toward heroines.

Oh, are they?

Are the audiences buying tickets moving with them?

 

[Chi84]

Disney is moving away from princesses and moving toward heroines.

Little girls like being both heroines and princesses. Sometimes it’s their dads who lean more toward wanting them to be princesses.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Little girls like being both heroines and princesses. Sometimes it’s their dads who lean more toward wanting them to be princesses.

Totally agree. But TWDC has an agenda.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Oh, are they?

Are the audiences buying tickets moving with them?

Audiences are not buying tickets, 2023 shows that. It Does not matter to Disney. Disney has an agenda.

 

[Chi84]

Totally agree. But TWDC has an agenda.

So do the people criticizing TWDC. In any event, Disney has to keep moving one way or another. They can’t just do nothing - and making the same movies as they did in the past is just as much a choice as doing what they’re doing now.

 

[Disstevefan1]

So do the people criticizing TWDC. In any event, Disney has to keep moving one way or another. They can’t just do nothing - and making the same movies as they did in the past is just as much a choice as doing what they’re doing now.

Disney will keep doing what they are doing and folks will go see their movies or not. The money does not matter to Disney, or it seems that way anyway.

SW2024 will be a train wreck but I will probably pay to see it on streaming unless it goes on D+ quickly in which I will see it for "free" on Disney+ as I am a charter member. I think its going to be so bad I must see it.

I have no agenda and I know the movies they are making are not for my demographic but they still get my money in some form anyway.

 

[KeithVH]

Was reading an article about this whole princess/heroine thing. Shooting from the hip - I don't really care and I'd make a guess Joe Average doesn't either. If it's a good, fun movie, then it should stand on it's own. All the angst here is so outrè; kinds interesting to read but missing the point most times.

My big issue? Why am I so unhappy with the animation style in the trailer? Combine that with the manic presentation tempo - how many scenes can we fit into 10 seconds? - and I feel thankful I'm not epileptic.

 

[TP2000]

So do the people criticizing TWDC. In any event, Disney has to keep moving one way or another. They can’t just do nothing - and making the same movies as they did in the past is just as much a choice as doing what they’re doing now.

Luckily for the Walt Disney Company and its collection of flagship movie studios, the American free market of 330 Million consumers speaks louder and clearer than any online critic or Twitter feed ever could.

The free market of consumers are happy and willing to buy movie tickets in huge numbers if the product being offered is worth it to them. Barbie and Taylor Swift are the latest examples of that massive market ready to pack movie theaters coast-to-coast.

Now it's up to Disney to make movies that customers actually want to pay to go see. It has been a rather disastrous year for Disney on that front so far, with only one movie of nine making a profit (Guardians 3). Disney's Wish is the next opportunity to offer a movie to the paying public from Walt Disney Animation. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I will also admit I have an attachment to Alan Menken's music, and I feel it would have been extremely appropriate for him to be the one providing the songs for this film, considering the impact his music had on Disney Animation for the last 35 years. Instead they just have him writing new songs for the live-action remakes.

I mean, he’s 74. Maybe he doesn’t feel like writing a whole new score.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Luckily for the Walt Disney Company and its collection of flagship movie studios, the American free market of 330 Million consumers speaks louder and clearer than any online critic or Twitter feed ever could.

Now if TWDC could only figure out how to at least break even on the movies they make instead of losing money, all would be fine.

 

[Prince-1]

I don't see anything not to like in this movie. It even has a disabled friend.

The trolls are out there and will probably do their best to kill it.

Like you and many have others have done with other movies that were released recently (Strange World, Lightyear, Indy 4, etc.).

 

[KeithVH]

To be fair, Frozen’s Elsa is elegant, regal, and mature.

Oh, and apparently a lesbian - or something.

Why Elsa from Frozen is a queer icon — and why Disney won’t embrace that idea

The queen of Arendelle might have been accidentally coded queer in Frozen, but Frozen 2 goes all in. Kinda.

www.vox.com

Too many tropes will drive people insane . . .

 

[TsWade2]

I don't see anything not to like in this movie. It even has a disabled friend.

The trolls are out there and will probably do their best to kill it.

If you’re talking about WDWPro and Valiant Renegade, ignore them!

 

[TsWade2]

Too many tropes will drive people insane . . .

And we all know that’s not going to happen anyway.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

To be fair, Frozen’s Elsa is elegant, regal, and mature.

Oh, and apparently a lesbian - or something.

Why Elsa from Frozen is a queer icon — and why Disney won’t embrace that idea

The queen of Arendelle might have been accidentally coded queer in Frozen, but Frozen 2 goes all in. Kinda.

www.vox.com

 

[Ghost93]

To be fair, Frozen’s Elsa is elegant, regal, and mature.

Oh, and apparently a lesbian - or something.

Why Elsa from Frozen is a queer icon — and why Disney won’t embrace that idea

The queen of Arendelle might have been accidentally coded queer in Frozen, but Frozen 2 goes all in. Kinda.

www.vox.com

The song "Let it Go" resonates with many in the LGBT community. I don't think the song was written to ONLY be viewed through an LGBT lens, but Elsa's arc — suppressing her true nature and trying to keep her ice powers hidden from society — mirrors what a lot of LGBT people feel being in the closet in an unwelcoming society. Like Elsa, closeted LGBT people often think the worst thing that could happen to them is coming out and being rejected or harassed/targeted. However, as the song "Let It Go" illustrates, once your big secret is out — and the thing you feared the most has already happened, there is a liberating feeling of no longer having to pretend to be what you are not.

I don't think Elsa is necessarily a lesbian, but it's easy to see why lesbians might see themselves in the character.

I think, however, at this point it would not be financially wise to make Elsa explicitly queer as people have already had a full decade to entrench headcannons of what Elsa should and shouldn't be. People project whatever they want onto Elsa. Making Elsa gay would upset those who want her to be asexual and find representation in that imagined aspect of the character.

I think if Disney makes a lesbian princess, it should be clear from the get-go and in her debut movie. It probably won't be Asha from Wish, as I suspect the company will want to wait a few years for society to be more open to the idea. There was a lot of controversy with Lightyear and Strange World in 2022, but I suspect in about 7-10 years, the notion of an LGBT lead in a family film will be less newsworthy. Especially since Gen Z — the most progressive and openly LGBT generation — will likely be of the parenting age at that time.

 

[BuddyThomas]

The song "Let it Go" resonates with many in the LGBT community. I don't think the song was written to ONLY be viewed through an LGBT lens, but Elsa's arc — suppressing her true nature and trying to keep her ice powers hidden from society — mirrors what a lot of LGBT people feel being in the closet in an unwelcoming society. Like Elsa, closeted LGBT people often think the worst thing that could happen to them is coming out and being rejected or harassed/targeted. However, as the song "Let It Go" illustrates, once your big secret is out — and the thing you feared the most has already happened, there is a liberating feeling of no longer having to pretend to be what you are not.

I don't think Elsa is necessarily a lesbian, but it's easy to see why lesbians might see themselves in the character.

Perfectly stated. Thank you.

 

[Miss Rori]

I'm not sure what I expected from a Disney centennial movie, but between all the trailers so far and what I've seen in the tie-in books, I'm surprised by how simple and toothless this is shaping up to be. Now Tangled and Frozen did nothing for me, and those were huge hits with the general public, so it's possible this one will be another blockbuster since it's very much the same tone. But for all the crowing the filmmakers are doing about the film being a grand tribute to the 2D fairy tale movies especially it looks way blander than those. "Legacy nods" do not a movie make, and pretty much everything here seems to have been done before and better in other Disney movies (or even in knockoffs/parodies of such).

It doesn't help that the setup leaves a lot of questions I doubt the film will answer. If the wishes given up to Magnifico really mean that much to those who made them, then how much should a memory wipe affect things? Especially given that a fair deal of the wishes relate to desired careers, wouldn't the wishers still be working towards them? Or are all these people too lazy to do things for themselves? That doesn't make them very sympathetic. And certainly their friends and loved ones remember what the wishes were if they had second thoughts. And what about all the legitimately bad wishes people are bound to make? (I keep thinking how a lot of casual observers seem to think the story is going to be about Asha learning a lesson about just wanting everybody to get their wishes.)

 

[BuddyThomas]

I'm not sure what I expected from a Disney centennial movie, but between all the trailers so far and what I've seen in the tie-in books, I'm surprised by how simple and toothless this is shaping up to be. Now Tangled and Frozen did nothing for me, and those were huge hits with the general public, so it's possible this one will be another blockbuster since it's very much the same tone. But for all the crowing the filmmakers are doing about the film being a grand tribute to the 2D fairy tale movies especially it looks way blander than those. "Legacy nods" do not a movie make, and pretty much everything here seems to have been done before and better in other Disney movies (or even in knockoffs/parodies of such).

It doesn't help that the setup leaves a lot of questions I doubt the film will answer. If the wishes given up to Magnifico really mean that much to those who made them, then how much should a memory wipe affect things? Especially given that a fair deal of the wishes relate to desired careers, wouldn't the wishers still be working towards them? Or are all these people too lazy to do things for themselves? That doesn't make them very sympathetic. And certainly their friends and loved ones remember what the wishes were if they had second thoughts. And what about all the legitimately bad wishes people are bound to make? (I keep thinking how a lot of casual observers seem to think the story is going to be about Asha learning a lesson about just wanting everybody to get their wishes.)

Or…or…….or…… wait for it……. Maybe you could wait for the movie to actually open and seeing it before forming an opinion.