You must have heard the song, When You Wish Upon a Star from the Disney animated film Pinocchio of 1940, at any time in your life. If you have, you firmly believe in fairy tales and the stories of magical kingdoms.

Celebrating 100 years of Disney, the new animated musical-comedy Wish is just the film for you — it has all the ingredients needed for a fairytale, has a king, involves a lot of magic, dreams, wishes and offers many lessons for kids who are teenagers.

Wish takes you to the magical kingdom of Rosas, where Asha, a sharp-witted girl, is to be interviewed as the apprentice of the beloved King Magnifico. Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose voices for Asha, while for the king, we have Chris Pine. Pine is famous for being Captain James T Kirk in Star Trek films and the voice of the short-lived Peter Parker in Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse movie (2018).

As a founder of Rosas, he together with the queen, commanded over the entire population. King Magnifico is also a sorcerer, who extracts the wishes of his people. He keeps the wishes in a secret chamber and seldom grants them. However, the king does not like anyone questioning his authority and on one occasion, even got angry.

Asha was interviewed for an apprentice position, but could not qualify. She manages to summon a star and the cute and mute star soon comes crashing. The star gives the animals a voice and people hope for a better future. With the help of the star, Asha manages to convince the people of the ‘evil’ nature of the king and his plans to steal their wishes.

Co-written by Jennifer Lee, co-directed by Chris Buck, and co-produced by Allison Moore, it’s the same team that gave the Frozen films. The songs at intervals keep the story running and foot-tapping, but they are not the best. Pine and Ariana excel in their roles, but the angelic cute star steals the day. The message from the fun-filled movie is clear, excess of anything is harmful and wishes are not transferable. As for the animation quality, Wish reminds one of many animated Disney movies and brings a smile to the viewer’s face by referencing old animated films.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 13th, 2024