Disney's Failed Wish

Being a Disney nerd is like playing tug-of-war with myself. One day, I’m fighting for its right to make films. The next day, I’m chastising it for business practices I don’t approve of. And then there are days where I’m at a complete loss. I should be so blessed, right?

Anyway, Wish.

Disney’s 100 years old this year. It’s on all their advertising, and they’ve updated their logo too. Perhaps the most-blatant example’s with their latest movie, Wish. Meant as a send-up to their history, it also marks their first attempt at stylized CGI. It’s an admirable response to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and it shows that even The House of Mouse is unafraid to experiment. I simply wish the end result had gone over better, as it’s giving voice to some of the absolute worst.

While chastising internet bozos for being creepy about Disney media isn’t new for me, I do think this particular instance feels especially dirty and dishonest. For one, this was a first attempt at new territory, much like Chicken Little in 2005. Like any first attempt, successful or not, there’ll be growing pains. And two, Wish’s reception being divided is ammo for bigots and naysayers to act like Disney’s dead without any evidence. Because Disney’s far from dead.

I’m worried because Wish’s reception validates a prediction I made when Elemental was in theatres: experimental animation’s the new frontier, but how long will it take before it’s a disappointment? The answer’s “not long”. It troubles me because the style’s relatively-new, and because it shows that something can’t be exciting based on its art-style alone. And while the latter should’ve been obvious, there’s a real fear Disney might learn the wrong lessons.

Perhaps it’s also a sign of Disney needing new leadership. Bob Iger might’ve returned as CEO to fix Bob Chapek’s mistakes, but he mishandled the writers’ and actors’ strikes. The company had already been bleeding with the pandemic, and the strikes hurt them more. I’m no analyst, but that the studio has yet to crack $1 billion globally with their releases this year sucks. Especially since they’re out to make money.

I don’t know what to think. Unlike many people, I’ve enjoyed much of Disney’s output these last few years. Ralph Breaks the Internet was a clever follow-up, and Frozen II had songs that were better than its predecessor. I also really liked Raya and the Last Dragon, and Strange World, while flawed, was a clever allegory on the dangers of fossil fuels. Disney, even focusing on their core lineup, has been far from a complete disaster…until now. Yet Wish still looks far more ambitious than some of Disney’s absolute lowest.

It's not even all the shameless self-flagellation that bothers me. Disney’s repertoire in the last few years has been on-the-nose with meta-references. The short film Disney released for their 100th anniversary, for example, was a circle-jerk of in-jokes. It even used archival footage of dead VAs so older characters could interact with newer ones. It was a reference-fest to an extreme, complete with Mickey Mouse thanking Walt Disney. All this for a photograph…

Yet people loved it! Clearly the problem isn’t the meta-humour or call-backs, but rather a lack of narrative cohesion. That’s what’s missed here, despite its villain being a jab at John Lasseter. Wish didn’t fail because of its looks, nor did it fail because of its references. It didn’t even fail because its lead heroine was black, contrary to what some claim. No, it failed because it wasn’t well-written.

Why’s this so hard to grasp? Why’s this a sign that “Disney’s dying”? Have you seen 70’s and 80’s Disney?! I have! Even on a good day it was nothing to sneeze at!

But that’s exactly it: Disney survived, however bleak and difficult. If they can survive the 70’s and 80’s, they can survive their current situation. And they can for sure survive the failure of Wish. It might be painful, but they’ll live. This is one misfire out of a massive backlog.

People need to stop claiming to be experts when they’re not. Like I’ve said, the movie industry’s cyclical and constantly evolving. What’s popular now may not be in a decade, we don’t know. That that hasn’t stopped people from calling Disney’s “dead” multiple times is annoying considering their closest moment to complete doom was before The Little Mermaid in 1989. They gambled their future on that movie’s success, and it paid off.

If that’s their lowest-low, this is nothing. Because Disney’s resilient and able to correct course. They did it in the 80’s, they did it in the late-2000’s, and they’ll do it now. They merely need the right guiding hand. And it’d be in their best interests to find it soon.

Which leads me back to Wish. Is it unfortunate that it’s not doing well? Yes, yes it is. Do I plan to see it eventually? Yes, yes I do. Does that mean Disney’s dead, though? No, no it doesn’t. Until naysayers are ready to admit that and change, they’ll forever earn my scorn for being unable to move on.