Wish (Walt Disney Animation - November 2023)

[SaucyBoy]

You know what? You’re right! I’m out of this doom and gloom nonsense until I see the movie!

As someone who is a fan of many varieties of music, it'll make your life easier if you stop caring so much about what other people think about media you enjoy (or will enjoy in the future). Once someone gets a negative opinion of something, which they are entitled to, it's hard to shake it off. Go and enjoy the movie and tune out the noise.

 

[MrPromey]

I never had considered that while watching the movie, but it is an interesting theory.

When...

Spoiler: SPOILER

He gets pulled into the staff and you see the sparkling cloud of stuff around it, you, for a brief moment, see the magic mirror face shape in the dust - I think that's why people are saying that.

 

[LittleBuford]

Just came back from seeing it.

I don't think that's going to be the case.

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. I plan to see it in the next day or two.

 

[MrPromey]

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. I plan to see it in the next day or two.

I'm not going to go into details because so many people here haven't yet seen it but there is SO MUCH about this movie that fell completely flat for me.

Two things I will say, though - I loved the animation style. For a CG movie, this feels like the best throwback attempt to a hand drawn animated classic I've seen them pull off. They really nailed the cell shaded renders on this and visually, it was beautiful.

That said, some of the characters looked weirdly basic the way they were designed in shape and color - it's kind of hard to explain what I mean but it was evident with most of the "extras" and her friends.

There are some really creative "camera" angles they use in certain parts to set up some scenes and fun wipe style transitions that are both interesting and organic to the film.

I give them a lot of credit for the work done on all of that.

The next part isn't really much of a plot spoiler - I don't think - but I'm still going to put it in the spoiler tag just so nobody gets mad:

Spoiler: Kind of a spoiler... maybe?

I was immediately asking myself what the point was with the floor opening up in his magic room to reveal a secret spiraling stairway going down to some other dungeon-like room far below. This made especially no sense when his room was at the top of what was essentially a tower which they repeatedly show wide in-the-distance shots of throughout the movie... So... he goes to the top of his castle where he has a secret dark wide spiraling staircase going deep down below everything you had to go up past to get down to where he goes to do evil things because I guess in the end, he always knew he was going to need a dungeon-like place to do bad things, especially now that he he's stolen and used a plot device directly out of a certain MCU thing?

I liked it less than I expected to and you know what my position was going in.

I hope you and anyone else paying to see it gets more out of it than I did - I might just be too picky and expect too much from them these days.

 

[MrPromey]

I personally find it amusing that “breaking even” is now spun as some sort of goal or accomplishment.

No company invests $300M over several years to “breakeven” in future year dollars. They make investments to generate a return. A “breakeven” performance would be a complete disaster for any investment, let alone a $300M tentpole.

But hey, if these “breakeven” cheerleaders want to give me money to hold for five years and just want the same money back then, DM me.

The truth is, the way Disney leverages everything, almost every animated movie they make turns a profit eventually if you're willing to wait long enough.

Universal now owns Dreamworks Animation and Illumination though and you could argue the same thing for them since they're leveraging their properties in theme parks and merchandise too now even though most of their stuff has been theatrically successful (except Teen Age Kraken which was tossed into theaters like a bad plate of calamari*) but I'm pretty sure if Migration ends up doing as well in theatrical release as everything Disney has done this year, the same people quick to point out how these moves aren't failures will quickly abandon that notion of how it'll some day be profitable too as they dog-pile on it to say someone else had a big family-friendly release that didn't do well this year, too.


*They clearly knew they had a stinker with this one and decided to save that advertising budget.

 

[Haymarket]

Interesting analysis:

 

[Figment1984]

One thing I haven’t really seen anyone mention, even reviewers, is how the movie’s own pitch barely succeeds in telling the story it advertises itself as:

Walt Disney Animation Studios revealed a FIRST LOOK at ‘Wish,’ their all-new animated feature film that explores how the iconic wishing star came to be.

Unless I’m missing something… we learn absolutely nothing about Star or its origin. Sure, the movie talks about stars, but not the star that’s supposedly tied to every film thereafter. Or am I just missing something?

 

[MrPromey]

You should see it, its actually pretty good despite reviews that say otherwise.

I saw it and I'll just say, you and I clearly have very different taste in movies.

I'd personally rate Strange World higher than this one (which we saw in theaters the Friday after Thanksgiving last year).

 

[Disney Irish]

I saw it and I'll just say, you and I clearly have very different taste in movies.

I'd personally rate Strange World higher than this one (which we saw in theaters the Friday after Thanksgiving last year).

I'm just not as critical about content as some apparently are. My gauge is, did I have a good time, ie did it entertain me. And the answer for Wish is yes. To me it was a great homage to classic Disney while trying to tell an original story. I was bobbing my head to the music and having a good time doing it.

Sorry if you didn't have a good time.

 

[MrPromey]

I'm just not as critical about content as some apparently are. My gauge is, did I have a good time, ie did it entertain me. And the answer for Wish is yes. To me it was a great homage to classic Disney while trying to tell an original story. I was bobbing my head to the music and having a good time doing it.

Sorry if you didn't have a good time.

The musical elements in particular were one of the points I didn't like. From the moment the very first character started singing, most of them felt shoehorned in.

Also wasn't a fan of how they used musical numbers in place of plot development a few times to get major results or to change characters' minds on things without actually having to do anything except use the power of song to pull it all off.

Compare how the music played into that big moment at the end for instance to how the music and singing works here:

Spoiler: Spoiler

You can see the lyrics in this clip - the song is very important to what's happening but it's also not the vehicle by which she defeats Te Kā as you can see the monster continuing to barrel at first with unadulterated rage and then desperation, towards her while she sings right up until it gets there. It's very much not the power of music defeating the villain; it's just her coming to a realization about her adversary and revealing that the monster was never actually a monster, that wins the day.

They make clear what actually happens here in this scene and the music emphasis that point where in that final scene in Wish, the music is meant to gloss over and hand wave what completely turns the tables on the villain who has handily won up to that point - like the most pivotal moment in the movie, the climax everything was leading up to is suddenly resolved without anything explaining how.

It's really lazy writing.

I find it truly baffling that the same studio made both of these movies.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Not sure what it says about my attention span (or maybe because I’m getting older) but I can remember the last time I was engaged throughout an entire animated movie. That goes for movies with good reviews too like the new TMNT and the most recent Puss in Boots. Only brief segments seem to capture my attention.

Despite the positive reviews I didn’t even make it to the end of Puss in Boots, I got bored and turned it off (at home), Mario Bros kept me engaged though.

A shorter attention span, combined with endless content, has definitely changed my viewing habits, it’s not uncommon for me to watch the first 10-15 minutes of a movie and then never come back to it, I also have no problem not finishing a movie that loses my attention even if I’m an hour into it.

 

[Ghost93]

I saw it and I'll just say, you and I clearly have very different taste in movies.

I'd personally rate Strange World higher than this one (which we saw in theaters the Friday after Thanksgiving last year).

I though Wish was less boring than Strange World, but I at least give Strange World credit for being a more original idea and TRYING to tell a different type of story. It didn't work at all, but I admired the effort.

 

[Disney Irish]

The musical elements in particular were one of the points I didn't like. From the moment the very first character started singing, most of them felt shoehorned in.

Also wasn't a fan of how they used musical numbers in place of plot development a few times to get major results or to change characters' minds on things without actually having to do anything except use the power of song to pull it all off.

Compare how the music played into that big moment at the end for instance compared to how it works here:

Spoiler: Spoiler

You can see the lyrics - it's very important to what's happening but it's also not the vehicle by which she defeats Te Kā as you can see the monster continuing to barrel towards her right up until it gets there and reveals it was never a monster at all.

I find it truly baffling that the same studio made both of these movies.

To each their own, it worked for me.

 

[MrPromey]

I though Wish was less boring than Strange World, but I at least give Strange World credit for being a more original idea and TRYING to tell a different type of story. It didn't work at all, but I admired the effort.

Agreed about them at least trying to do something with Strange World.

This felt to me like a very cynical attempt to cash in on what someone thought must have made great Disney movies, great.

Even the visuals during the closing credits that had nothing to do with the movie reminded me of that awful final The Marvels trailer where they show you all the stuff you really liked from the MCU, none of which was in that actual movie.

Reminder for everyone, I actually liked The Marvels.

 

[Ghost93]

To each their own, it worked for me.

I'll admit, the song "Knowing What I Know Now" is a banger.

 

[Disney Irish]

I'll admit, the song "Knowing What I Know Now" is a banger.

I liked "I'm a Star", it started playing in rotation on the Disney SiriusXM station.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I couldn’t get my son to see this with me (nothing against the movie but I couldn’t pry him away from grandma and grandpa’s house) so I took my niece. I thought it was a cute movie. Not amazing, not bad, cute and sweet and fun.

I think what kept the movie from being more moving or memorable, to me, was ironically Asha’s lack of her own Hero’s Journey kinda wish. I appreciate that Disney takes an interest in socially responsible community oriented values, and I do like that. That said, Asha didn’t have a dream that was truly her own. She didn’t long to explore like Wendy, Moana or Ariel; she wasn’t in love with love like Aurora, Snow White, or Cinderella; she wasn’t like “Get me the h*ll out of here to someplace cooler” like Belle or Rapunzel, or looking to resolve personal demons like Elsa… similar to Strange World, what she wanted seemed more reactive and situational, vs. a true kind of “dream of the heart”. There wasn’t quite the same emotional arc in watching her on her journey.

That said, it was a fun time and a great way to spend an afternoon.

 

[PizzaSpringRoll2017]

I'll admit, the song "Knowing What I Know Now" is a banger.

You should listen to “Why We Build the Wall” from Hadestown, the song they ripped off. Much better version of the same musical ideas

 

[Stitch's Grandfather]

I find it truly baffling that the same studio made both of these movies.

Exactly. Nothing about this movie felt like Disney, which doesn't make any sense, because it's supposed to be a sort of love song to Disney movies. And even if you compare to a movie I disliked, Strange World, Wish is just a mess. Strange World had real tension, good pacing... you root for the characters. But Wish falls flat end to end for me.

 

[celluloid]

I noticed you left Turtles off your list.

Anyways, once again no one is disputing that Disney is the top of this years lowest studio performer list. Paramount though is a close second with its underperformers.

That being said it still is at the moment the second highest grossing studio behind Universal in 2023. So even if it did lose money, it still brought in over $1.3B domestic.

I left Turtles off my list because if you were to read it my post, you would see that I only included films that doubled to quadrupled their ROI or more.

But since you brought it up, it did in fact, also outperform Disney's last hope is going to do domestically.

I told you a long time ago that Trolls, and Migration would likely outperform Wish or give it great competition.
You scoffed. I later brought up Five Nights at Freddy's domestic total surpassing it when that film was about to come out and projections were in.

So are we going to have to teach you about gross vs net gross now?