Disney Screens 20 Minutes of ‘Wish’ in Annecy, Showcasing Two New Songs
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Disney animation chief creative officer Jennifer Lee capped an Annecy showcase by screening 20 minutes of unfinished footage of the upcoming animated musical “Wish,” which is slated for release this November. Split across two clips from the film’s opening act, the footage introduced feisty heroine Asha (Ariana DeBose) alongside antagonist King Magnifico (Chris Pine), and featured two all-new songs written by Julia Michaels.
At first we meet the headstrong teenager as she interviews to serve as sorcerer’s apprentice for the regal Magnifico, a so-called benevolent mage who rules over his Kingdom of Rosas by guarding and granting the many wishes his subjects offer to him in tribute. Only the interview doesn’t quite go as planned after Asha pulls down the glowing crystal orb that holds the wish of her 100-year-old grandfather, begging the sovereign to grant it. No deal — Magnifico, it turns out, claims his regal powers by hoarding.
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Dejected, the heroine returns home but finds herself unable to fit back in. She’s seen beyond the veil, and, newly aware of the cynical ruse that governs her land, she flees the homestead and burst into song – a very specific “I Want” song that finds her looking over familiar sights with new disappointment. “So I make this wish/to have something more for us than this,” goes the refrain, and once DeBose hits the crescendo a star alights in the night sky, illuminating the whole kingdom.
The star goes by Star and resembles a marshmallow Peeps set ablaze. After following it to a forest bed, Asha watches the Star shed gold dust on flora and fauna alike, with each beneficiary suddenly able to speak – and sing! “You’re a star,” sing an arboreal chorus that call back the Grandmother Willow from “Pocahontas;” “You’re a star,” add the birds and the bears and Asha’s pet goat Valentino, who now boasts the pipes of Alan Tudyk; “You’re a star,” all of nature intones with one voice.
When the song comes to close, a doe turns to its natural predator and says, “thanks for not eating me.” “Don’t mention it, Bambi,” comes the reply.
As Lee explained before presenting the footage, “Wish” was very much designed to mark and celebrate Disney’s centenary, threading references and heartfelt homages into a modern throwback about wishing upon a star. As she introduced the various characters that fill this magical new world, Lee slyly pointed to Asha’s extended friend group – all seven of them, with each described by single adjective.
Directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn – who were not present for reasons made clear by the decidedly unfinished nature of the footage screened – “Wish” is hardly a wild hodgepodge of influences (for that, Disney fans need only look the short “Once Upon A Studio,” also due out later this year). Above all, the creative team looked to “Sleeping Beauty” for legacy inspiration, even formatting this newest project with the same Cinemascope aspect ratio last used by that 1959 milestone.
When imagining Asha’s family abode, production designer Lisa Keene took direct inspiration from concept paintings by Gustaf Tenngren and Kay Nielsen, two artists who really helped establish the studio’s specific fairy-tale aesthetic in the 1940s, and when forging a unique visual style for this latest film, the filmmakers mixed watercolor backgrounds with CG characters, evoking the past while looking to the future.
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