Wish(2023)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
Asha and the townspeople unite to overcome King Magnifico’s spell, free both the wishing star and their wishes (which returns to them), and trap Magnifico inside his evil magic staff. Amaya becomes the new ruler of the kingdom, Asha becomes its wizard, and Sabino (with his wish returned to him) writes the classic Disney song “When You Wish Upon a Star”

Long Ending:
This film was made to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary. I “wish” it had been better (and given its dismal box office, I guess Disney wishes the same).

Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) lives in a magical kingdom named Rosas along with her mother Sakina (voiced by Natasha Rothwell) and 100-year old grandfather Sabino (voiced by Victor Garber).The kingdom is ruled by the wizard King Magnifico (voiced by Chris Pine), who is supported by his wife Queen Amaya (voiced by Angelique Cabral). Magnifico founded Rosas to be a paradise where nobody would be left wanting for anything. He also developed magic that allows him to take people’s deepest wishes and put them in a protective bubble. In so doing, the people whose wishes are released to him will no longer remember their wish, but the wish itself will never die as it is held protected by Magnifico. He does this because he saw how much pain people living outside of Rosas were if they failed to achieve their dreams. But several times per year, Magnifico grants some of the wishes given to him by restoring them to their owner and then uses his magic to make sure their wishes come true.

Asha applies to serve as Magnifico’s apprentice and attends the interview. The pair bond as Asha shares his deep love for the wishes in his custody and shows an inherent affinity for using magic. However, when she asks Magnifico to grant Sabino’s wish since its his 100th birthday and he likely has little time left, Magnifico declines. He explains that Sabino’s wish is to do a great act that will inspire future generations. But Magnifico claims that this wish could be dangerous as it’s unclear what Sabino would inspire people to do (i.e., perhaps Sabino will inspire them to overthrow Magnifico as King). Asha asks if she can then at least return Sabino’s memory of the wish so he can try to achieve it on his own without Magnifico’s aid. But Magnifico again declines, reiterating that he is the sole arbiter of who gets their wish (and who gets to pursue it) as it’s the only way to ensure everyone is safe and happy. Asha says that it is unfair for him to withhold even the chance that people could achieve their dreams. In return, an insulted Magnifico rejects her application to be his apprentice and says he will not only never grant Sabino’s wish, but will now never grant Sakina’s wish either.

A depressed Asha visits a secluded spot where she spent time with her now-deceased father and stargazed. As her pet goat Valentino (voiced by Alan Tudyk) looks on, Asha wishes upon a star that she and the rest of Rosas can have the chance to pursue dreams greater than Magnifico will allow. To her surprise, the wishing star descends from the sky to Rosas, spreading a beautiful light over the kingdom and sprinkling magic dust over the animals and trees – granting them the ability o talk. The star, Valentino, and Asha resolve to take back Sabino and Sakina’s wishes from Magnifico and then leave Rosas. Meanwhile, Magnifico fears that the star’s magical presence is meant to be an attack on his kingdom. Over Amaya’s objection, he consults a forbidden book of evil spells to help him defend against this “attack.”

With the help of Asha’s friends, Asha recovers her family’s wishes, and she even manages to restore Sabino’s memory of his wish. But Magnifico (powered by forbidden spells) finds Asha and destroys Sakina’s wish as punishment (and learns that his power grows by destroying and consuming the wishes in his possession). Asha and her family successfully flee, but then she, the star and Valentino decide that they must return to Rosas and save everyone else’s wish from Magnifico.

Meanwhile, Magnifico decides that he will harness the power of the kingdom’s dreams and the star to become all-powerful. He publicly denounces Asha and her friends and begins searching for them. Upon returning, Asha reunites with her friends and they try and release all the wishes. They are joined by Amaya (who has realized her husband is lost forever to the allure of the evil spells he is conjuring from his book). They enact a plan and come close to freeing the wishes, but Magnifico ambushes them at the last minute and traps the star and the wishes inside his magic staff. He then binds the whole town with his enhanced magic, saying that nobody will do anything without his say so.

Asha begins singing a song of resistance and is soon joined by the entire town. Their collective resistance reverses Magnifico’s spell and frees star and the wishes. It also results in Magnifico being sucked into his staff (and turning into the entity that lives in the Evil Queen’s mirror in Snow White). The wishes return to the townspeople and they realize they never should have given them away. The townspeople begin pursuing their dreams, Amaya becomes Rosas’ new, compassionate ruler, and Asha becomes the new wizard for the kingdom after the star bestows a magic wand upon her. The star then returns to the sky so that others may wish upon it as well. After the credits, we see that Sabino is composing the song “When You Wish Upon A Star.”

Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Harvey Guillén and Nasim Pedrad also are voice actors in this film.