What a generic Wish.
It’s hard to know what’s happening at Disney and Marvel at the moment, but the quality of both their animation and superhero films are definitely on the decline – reflected in massively disappointing recent box-office business.
They are quite literally running out of ideas. Where has the ingenuity gone?
And Wish – a mish-mash of parts of past Disney animations done a lot better – is really just ‘meh’.
A perfectly inoffensive way to pass an hour and a half to entertain a little ‘un – but it’s all rather bland.
And that’s despite the best efforts of the two lead stars, Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine – who throw everything into what is put in front of them.
The great King Magnifico (Pine) and his doting wife Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral) have established a blossoming community on an island in the Mediterranean Sea – known as the kingdom of the Rosas – which has seen dozens of families relocate there in the past couple of decades.
Even more appealing is the ability of Magnifico – who is a student of sorcery – being able to grant the greatest desires of Rosas’ inhabitants. Each of them give the king a memory of their ‘wishes’ to be sealed and protected by him until he can grant them – which he does at a ceremonial event every month.
But when 17-year-old Asha (DeBose) goes for a job as Magnifico’s apprentice, she is hit by the revelation that the king only grants wishes that don’t pose a threat to his power. And furthermore, when Asha realises he never intends to return ‘ungranted’ wishes, she makes her own wish upon on a star.
To her surprise, a star (actually known as ‘Star’) descends from the sky – bringing magic to everything around it – and Asha enlists its help to retrieve her family’s wishes, including that of her elderly grandfather.
But Magnifico – threatened by the presence of this new magic in the kingdom – will stop at nothing to capture the star, which could expose his transgressions to the people that worship him.
And via a couple of catchy tunes – to the backdrop of some truly luscious sketch-inspired animation – it does pretty much what it says on the tin, going pleasantly from ‘A to B’. But absolutely nothing more. Simply serviceable at best.
If this movie could make a proper ‘wish’ for itself – it would be the vital ingredient of imagination.
ESP Rating: 2.5/5
Gavin & Joshua Miller (Gavin’s nine-year-old son who added his own input into this review)
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Ariana Debose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Victor Garber, Angelique Cabral, Natasha Rothwell & Evan Peters
Running Time: 1 Hr 35 Mins
Directors: Chris Buck & Fawn Veerasunthorn
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