Disney’s animated film “Wish”: “Wish”: Which wishes can become reality?

Wishes can come true if people fight to make them come true. Or people can do nothing and just hope and wait, but then their wishes may never be fulfilled. This is exactly the problem that Disney’s new animated film “Wish” is about. In the city of Rosas, which is located somewhere on the Mediterranean, looks like a late medieval Granada and acts as a diverse place of escape and longing for many people, a powerful king and magician named Magnifico takes care of the wishes that give the title. On their 18th birthday, all the residents confide in him their most secret and heartfelt wishes and forget them at that moment. The king collects the wishes as glittering, floating balls in the castle tower and makes some of them come true at regular wish ceremonies. The young Asha, who as a city guide shows newly arrived residents around and greets them with “Hola, Salam and Shalom”, applies to become the king’s magical assistant. The interview goes wrong, but Asha learns that the king never wants to fulfill most of her wishes because he considers them too dangerous. This also includes the wish of her grandfather, who as a singer wants to inspire young people to change.

In desperation, Asha runs away and hides at night in a tree where, as a child, she regularly sat with her late father and watched the stars. And suddenly a star comes flying towards her and turns out to be a kind of cosmic wishing machine that also lets all animals speak. Asha’s friends are thrilled by this, but are also disappointed by the king, who knows about the star’s magical presence and wants to take it away from Asha, so that a wild fight breaks out over who is allowed to use magic and who is not. “Wish” is an extremely quickly told and empowering fantasy story that is not about beautiful princesses or great heroes, but about a group of simple young people who collectively fight against the authoritarian order. The film is almost too easy to read as an allegory of ideologically suppressed desire and the fight against the social blindness. The king, who is so kind and good, reacts harshly and resorts to what is described as dangerous magic, which once unleashed, like fascism, can hardly be controlled. The good governance model paradise of Rosas is becoming an authoritarian kingdom. The king, who is becoming increasingly crazy and aggressive, represents numerous despots in the world.

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Beyond this political reading, “Wish” is also the film at the end of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Disney studios, which was heavily advertised. In the USA the film was released on Thanksgiving weekend, in this country it is expected to fill cinemas in the run-up to Christmas. Financially, the Disney company, which experienced terrible flops at the box office last year with ambitious animated films such as “Lightyear” and “Strange World,” has great expectations of this completely newly invented story. “Wish” should also be understood as an image of the wish fulfillment of children’s dreams in animated films. This is told in a child-friendly and exciting way with lots of music, lots of talking and singing animals and plenty of successful situational comedy. The kids in the cinema are likely to be excited about the not-so-easy fight between the motley and diverse group of Asha’s friends against the authoritarian order of Magnifico. “Wish” also wants to retell Disney’s story through animation, combining computer-animated images and the hand-drawn watercolor animation that was common in earlier decades. Some images, especially in the long shot, appear vintage-like and contrast with modern, quickly edited computer-animated images.

Even if “Wish” is not as rich a treasure trove for the left-wing, anti-government feature section as the Disney productions “Frozen II” or “Encanto”, which, in addition to female self-empowerment, are also about post-colonialism and the trauma of flight, the film has a lot to offer. It’s about solidarity, about courage, about the ability to forgive and about the difficulty of living up to your own desires. Disney can learn a lesson from this. In the company’s 100-year history with over 60 animated films, there have only been five animated characters that are not white. Asha is now the sixth, but female again. Let’s see if Disney, who attaches great importance to diversity, will be able to let a non-white male character be the main character.

»Wish«, USA 2023. Regie: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn, Buch: Jennifer Lee, Allison Moore. 95 Min. Kinostart: 30. November.

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