★★★

Disney is contradiction. A vast corporate empire built on communal identity and the intangibility of dreams. Disney champions both the capitalist and liberal. It’s a conflict that comes to a head in Wish, the cinematic climax of the studio’s centenary celebrations. One hundred years of wonder, lovingly rendered in picture perfect animation. I must here raise my critical Achilles heel. Fully aware as I am of the film’s narrative faults, the resonance with which Disney, the dream, exists in my heart is strong. Those who share this potent feeling will find themselves as one with the emotional rush of Wish’s soaring exuberance. Any less easily swain may feel only the weight of marketable familiarity. It doesn’t take so much by way of over-analysis to spot the issues.

One thing we can all agree on, however, is that Ariana DeBois was born to play a ‘Disney Princess’. The West Side Story songbird – and accidental viral hit – does ‘the thing’ here and does it good. DeBois plays Asha, a vibrant and ambitious, but not yet of age, resident of the Mediterranean kingdom of Rosas. It’s a role that so easily fits the mould of Disney’s recent trend for awkward and relatable heroines – see also Encanto’s Mirabel, Frozen’s Anna and Raya, of the Lost Dragon fame – that a lesser talent might fail to stand apart. Not DeBois. Into Asha, DeBois breathes a lust for life and, crucially, for justice. Her delivery of the film’s winning songs, meanwhile, prove as elevatory as they are stirring. One or two linger well past the credits.

Asha lives in a thatch cottage on the edge of Rosas with her Mum (Natasha Rothwell) and grandfather (Victor Garber). It’s on the day of the latter’s 100th birthday – wink, wink – that things kick off. Asha is summoned to interview for the role of sorcerer’s apprentice – nudge, nudge – to the dashing King Magnifico, who is voiced by Chris Pine. Vain and excessively well groomed, if not immediately awful, Magnifico is the self-appointed keeper of the kingdom’s wishes. The concept is, truth be told, not the best defined. Integracare essence, when a Rosan turns eighteen, they gift Magnifico their heart’s desire for safekeeping. It is up to the king to decide whom among his people have their wishes granted. It’s a low percentage.

Quite what it is that drives Magnifico is not entirely clear. Certainly, it’s hard not to assume that some pivotal scene was cut from the film in a merciless edit. No matter. Pine is terrific here, making for one more superbly despotic villain in the Disney canon. Magnifico would be unstoppable were it not for the appearance of Star, an irresistibly cute anthropomorphic star – and merchandising opportunity – who answers Asha’s musical call for help. Star can’t grant wishes but has ample magic to aid and inspire the worthy in following their dreams. Vive la révolution! It starts within, as a delightful little woodland number attests. Just one of many scenes in which writers Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore draw on Disney’s rich heritage.

A decision to animate Wish in composite – three dimensional characters roam a painterly, two dimensional world – yields mixed success. The debt here is to Sleeping Beauty, from which Wish steals a 2.55:1 ratio and tapestry aesthetic. It’s a gorgeous tribute but limiting. Wish was once penned as a return to Disney’s traditional house style and it’s hard not to feel a touch of regret that the production bottled it. Rounded character designs flatten a series of charming backdrops, with spaces occasionally losing even basic foreshortening. This would matter less were the characters themselves, outwit Asha and Magnifico, not so superficial. Asha has seven besties – one for each dwarf – but none feel more than surface deep in construction. Grandpa Sabino is even dispatched to an island late in the film when Lee and Moore realise they have no further use for him.

There is, nonetheless, much to love here. Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice songs gift the film a bouncy and distinctive sound, while a riot is had by animators thrusting nods to every Disney animation ever made into almost every scene. Peter Pan, Bambi and Little John all cameo, with frames deliberately drawn in the image of prior scenes in Pocahontas, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and more. A dozen Mickey Mouse ears appear and I even caught a sly design reference to The Emperor’s New Groove. Yes, Wish suffers inorganic storyboarding – less an original idea developed than corporate need fleshed out – but that’s never for want of honest magic. These filmmakers care too much about their own contradictory brand to let that go.

T.S.