Is there a moral component to wishing? If wishing necessarily invokes feelings of jealousy or greed, does that make it sinful? What if a wish could never be fulfilled? That happens every day. Is that a bad thing? Is the wishing itself superior to the fulfillment? Is there always a painful component of wishing? We take for granted that wishing is a good thing; why do we think that? Because hope is positive? Maybe. What if you wish for evil things? I mean, I guarantee there were millions of people who wished for Donald Trump to be President in 2016. I defy you to name any single person who wished such and came out the better for it. Anyone. Including Donald himself. I think sometimes we have to agree that wishing is not necessarily a good thing and the fulfillment can indeed be dangerous, as is stated by the villain in today’s weirdly existential Disney, Wish.
I have no idea if Disney meant Wish to inspire philosophical conversation. I’m actually guessing it didn’t. However, the above are some of the thoughts I had while watching Wish, a film deeper than any Disney has a right to be.
The island kingdom of Rosas boasts mighty wizard King Magnifico (voice of Chris Pine) and Queen Afterthought (Angelique Cabral). The most interesting thing about the Queen, I kid you not, is the fact that she wears headgear straight out of football played in the 1920s. Don’t worry; this film isn’t about her. It’s about the king, the island, and aspiring royal apprentice, Asha (Ariana DeBose).
King Magnifico is a Wish miser. No, he doesn’t advertise that; his spin is that the wishes are “kept safe” in a castle room so secure that a random girl and her pet goat can only break into it three or four times over the course of the film. Seriously, this is like the WC at Mar-a-Lago. The deal is that when you turn 18 in Rosas, you make a Wish in a big ceremony in front of the king, who seals it in a portable globe and keeps it in his special Wish room. One day he may or may not grant it. In the meantime, you forget your Wish, which kinda spoils having one in the first place, no?
So Asha has a service interview with King Wish-hoarder that she bombs. Yeah, been there. Done that. Sorry, Asha. In fact, it goes so badly that Asha pretty much makes herself a target for she not only screwed up 
her executive assistant possibility; she got King Pine to admit he isn’t ever giving the wishes back, which is kind of a dick move, but how big a dick move depends on your philosophy of wishes. Clearly, what’s needed here is a song, preferably something about wishing. Oh, good, we have one.
And then a Wish-granting star shows up and the Rosas world goes all higgelty-piggelty. For one thing, all the animals and plants start speaking English, which must make dinner time really awkward, no? Personally, I got wrapped up in philosophical thoughts on wishes because there isn’t much else here. Wish is sort-of a “power corrupts” tale, but -let’s face it- it’s hard to care without a body count or slavery or something really drastic. I can get behind the desire to let people own their wishes, but not enough to sing about it. This is yet another Disney film in which the best number is sarcastically self-congratulatory: like Moana’s “You’re Welcome,” the best number in Wish is Chris Pine’s lament “This Is the Thanks I Get?!”
Wish has both a poor denouement and a poor resolution. I’m not entirely sure the kingdom is any better off by the end of the film, nor did the film get to its conclusion without making me scratch my head in, “really? That worked? Probably should have tried that an hour ago.” For all I got to ponder the nature of wishes, Wish will not rank anywhere near my top Disneys. It’s a bit flat and a bit bland for my tatses; I Wish it were better.
There once was a girl from Rosas
Who decided the king she opposes
So she broke into his study
And stole wishes, buddy
But I’m not sure they’re what she supposes
Rated PG, 95 Minutes
Director: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Writer: Jennifer Lee, Allison Moore, Chris Buck
Genre: Existential Disney
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Disney-ites
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “I’m honestly not sure what the conflict is here; why don’t people just keep their wishes or Wish for other things? Surely, your life isn’t about wishing for exactly one thing forever.”
