Walt Disney Animation Studios plans to release its new musical movie “Wish” in theaters on Nov. 22.
The movie explains the origin of the wishing star that has been seen in Disney classics such as “The Princess and the Frog,” “Pinnochio,” and “Snow White,” according to Cinemark.
The movie takes place in the Kingdom of Rosas and follows a 17-year-old girl named Asha. Asha is voiced by Ariana DeBose, who has been known for her roles in “Hamilton” and the 2021 “West Side Story” movie.
Chris Pine voices Asha’s enemy, King Magnifico, who takes wishes from the people of Rosas and decides whose wishes may be granted.
“Chris Pine has definitely played medieval-age characters. I typically don’t picture him voicing a villain, but I think he’s a really good actor. So I think he’ll do that very well,” said Greer Stone, a history teacher at Carlmont and a longtime Disney fan.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Wish” is one of the top most anticipated movies of 2023. However, multiple recent Disney animated movies have underperformed at the box office despite good reviews.
“Strange World,” a Disney movie released in 2022, had an estimated budget of $120 million but only got a worldwide gross of about $74 million, according to IMDb, even though it received a 72% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Some people are optimistic that “Wish” will succeed at the box office due to its classic Disney-style characters, the art style, and its promising theme.
“The way the characters are a typical CGI, but then the magic is more stylistic 2D, I think it will be cool to watch,” said animation enthusiast and sophomore Samantha Roberts.
One of the most unique features in the movie was the computer graphic imaging (CGI) art style that blended 2D and 3D elements. Rosa Horovitz, a teacher at Carlmont, described the style as very different from Disney’s 3D approach throughout the last decade.
“It seems to have been drawn to give a sort of storybook texture. I’m not sure how else to describe it. It has the texture of drawings on paper printed a long time ago,” Horovitz said.
“Wish” will only premiere in theaters, despite recent movies that were instantly released on Disney+.
“I’m just hoping for a story that brings back some of the old magic and excitement that Disney has always been so well known for,” Stone said. “As long as it has all of that, I’ll be excited to go see it.”
