is stunning to look at with textured and rich watercolor-inspired animation and easter egg treasures for audiences nostalgic for the classics. But it is also more concept than story: A strained and forgettable attempt to pay homage to the studio鈥檚 100 years. The origin of the wishing star is as fine a motivation as any for a jumping off point, but 鈥淲ish,鈥� directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, seems to have been drawn not from someone鈥檚 earnest imagination and dreams, but a corporate board trying to reverse-engineer magic and charm.
Case in point: In one of the awfully generic songs, 鈥淚 Am a Star,鈥� a cute, talking rabbit chirpily sings to our heroine Asha that 鈥渨hen it comes to the universe, we鈥檙e all shareholders.鈥� Ugh.
I鈥檓 probably not alone in having learned several vocabulary words from Disney songs as a child, but there is something so dispiriting about hearing the word 鈥渟hareholders鈥� in what is supposed to be a rallying, inspirational anthem in a fairy tale world where talking goats and magic exist. There is no sign of corporations or public offerings in the Kingdom of Rosas, though that could have been an interesting path to take. Instead, this is a place founded by a guy, Magnifico (Chris Pine), who has the ability to grant wishes (and other magic things, too).
Now, you may think you know what a wish is, but this movie needs it to be a little more complicated than that and thus has to explain it over and over again to justify itself. Wishes aren鈥檛 just small wants, they鈥檙e everything 鈥� your soul, your reason for living 鈥� and Magnifico has convinced all his subjects to give him theirs upon their 18th birthday for protection. He stores these wishes in floating orbs in an observatory in his castle, that he鈥檒l then grant back to some at a later date.
Asha, the lead voiced by Ariana DeBose (鈥淲est Side Story鈥� Oscar-winner and the reason 鈥淎ngela Bassett did the thing鈥� lives rent-free in my head) is a spirted subject of Rosas who is about to turn 18 and give her wish to Magnifico. She is fan No.1 of Rosas and Magnifico, but when she discovers (about 15 minutes into the film) that he doesn鈥檛 have any intention of granting her 100-year-old grandfather鈥檚 wish, she turns on him and Rosas and begins an accidental revolution. This is after Asha and Magnifico sing a duet 鈥淎t All Costs鈥� that is fully a love song about two people but has been shoehorned in here to be about Rosas and the wishes. It鈥檚 strangely awkward.
The original songs, by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice, are slick and poppy and ultimately inoffensive. Their appeal might depend on how you felt about Benj Pasek and Justin Paul鈥檚 songs for 鈥淭he Greatest Showman.鈥� If you loved those, the 鈥淲ish鈥� soundtrack is probably for you. If not, sorry, though 鈥淜nowing What I Know Now鈥� is pretty catchy.
鈥淲ish鈥� also doesn鈥檛 seem to have a solid handle on how the lack of these wishes affect the population of Rosas. A few walk around like sleepy shells, but most everyone else seems happy and content even after having volunteered this essential part of their being. Maybe that鈥檚 the point? But this is a movie that has some surprising parallels (in themes and unresolved storylines) with 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Darling鈥� that don鈥檛 stop at Chris Pine relishing his handsome villain era.
The animation really is quite lovely overall and striking after so many years of computer generated smoothness and perfection. But this is also a strange mixture of both styles and the storybook like textures makes some of the characters faces and the star look almost too fake for the world they鈥檙e in.
The star, a speechless innocent, is also lacking a certain spark that might make it as iconic as the filmmakers want it to be. Or perhaps it just has the misfortune of looking too similar to the nihilist star from 鈥淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie鈥� from earlier this year.
鈥淲ish鈥� is harmless holiday programming for the family, but it鈥檚 strange to watch a movie about celebrating the individual 鈥渟tar鈥� in everyone that feels like it was made by mandate, not a dream. And I would bet that every person who worked on this film probably grew up loving Disney and that each has dozens of ideas more inspired than this to commemorate 100 years and take this company into the future. Maybe next time.
鈥淲ish,鈥� a Walt Disney Co. release in theaters Tuesday, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥渢hematic elements and mild action.鈥� Running time: 92 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
