I've been seeing a lot of complaints about Disney's WishāØ, and so I wanted to share my thoughts about some of the common complaints I've been seeing.
āļøWarning-shaped warning for spoilers below! āļø
Personally I enjoyed the film. It may not be as good as I was hoping it would be, but it was better than I feared it would be. It may not be as good as say, Frozen, The Lion King, Beauty And The Beast or Snow White And The Seven Dwarves, the absolute top tier Disney films, but it's every bit as good as films such as The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. (My personal favourites by the way, are Lilo And Stitch and Frozen š)
A lot of fans complained about the art style, but I actually like it, and found it quite charming. It does remind me of Sofia The First, but I don't see that as a bad thing. (Sofia The First was a good show! As was Elena Of Avalor.) I liked the more muted colour palette, I found it calming and peaceful at parts. I like how Disney is trying something new with their animation, which they haven't done for some time. They've tried to blend 2D and CGI, and I appreciate that Disney are trying something new. I remember when the short Paperman came out, everyone wanted Disney to make a movie in that art style. Is this not pretty close/similar to that? Personally, I'd like Disney to return to hand drawn 2D animation again, and them experimenting now is showing a willingness to go back to that. If Wish is unsuccessful that sends the people at Disney the wrong message. (The message that only CGI animations are worth making, which I feel to be untrue!) I liked how the animation of Star was different to the animation of Asha and the environment as well. I thought it was really interesting to see that contrast, between the styles within the style.
I've seen a lot of people complain about concept ideas that werenāt used. I've seen people complain that Queen Amaya and King Magnifico were supposed to be a villain power couple, but personally I liked how Queen Amaya was good! I really liked her as a character! It also shows that sometimes the people we love or people close to us are in the wrong, or do bad things, and we still need to hold them accountable. I actually really liked Amaya's design as well. Then again, in my opinion I tend to feel like I donāt like the villains. I tend to feel like they're villains, so weāre not supposed to like them. They're bad people. Sometimes I might think, for example Mother Gothel is a really good and interesting villain, but I donāt like her as a person or condone her actions. Yeah so I actually find it strange that people like the villains. Why do you like bad people? š
Maybe this is just me?
I liked in Wish, with Magnifico, he isn't a classic Disney villain, but he is a new brand of complexity, in which he genuinely believes he is in the right and that he is the good guy. Then, fully believing that he is in the right, Magnifico goes on to corrupt himself, which is really interesting. I like how Disney are still trying to keep things fresh and interesting. I feel like after the era of twist villains, they still wanted to do something slightly different even if they returned to using traditional villains, and I appreciate that. Disney is always trying new things, which I really appreciate! I just think it's interesting how they're like, using psychology or something! Because there are real people out there who are like Magnifico! If magic was a thing that we had at our disposal, who wouldn't use forbidden magic in the same way he did? Fully thinking that they are in the right!
Another criticism I've seen is that people wish they kept the concept idea of Star transforming into a human character, being a boy somewhat like Peter Pan. Personally, I love Star as they are! Star is like, the best thing about this movie (though maybe I'm bias saying this because Star already granted my wish long ago!). Personally I find Peter Pan to be arrogant, annoying, irritating, and so I don't like him (prefer Tinker Bell!) and so I'm glad Star wasn't like him at all! Star was a little cosmic force, a little bundle of energy! I feel like, with this character, less is actually more. I really like how Star is seemingly so simple, but such a wonderful little creature. Star seems to be genuinely quite loving, and wanting the best for people. I also think, since no pronouns were ever used in the film for Star, that you can headcanon Star as any gender you want. I kinda like the idea of Star being Disney's first non-binary icon!
I do think, since this film was tied into the 100 year anniversary of the company, that maybe this wasn't the time for them to be experimenting, and perhaps that's why fans are complaining. Because honestly the complaints don't make sense to me any other way! š
I liked it. A lot of fans loved Moana, some even found it better than Frozen, but I personally found Moana to be a bit boring. I don't get how people can praise Moana but criticise Wish. I just feel, that maybe I'm in the minority and people don't love fairytales anymore? But I do (love fairytales) and I always will. I like how this was Disney's first attempt at an original fairytale, not an adaptation of something already written. I think if we give Disney opportunity, they will evolve and maybe go on to make something even better than Wish, something maybe that could rival Frozen.
Personally, I like that Disney are experimenting. I hope to see more fairytales from them in the future, as well as hopefully a return to 2D animation.
Just an edit to say: I composed this post a while ago and had it saved but never published until now. Someone asked my thoughts so I thought I'd post.