Just saw it.
It was fine.
1. I'm so over the "quirky not-like-other-girls main character" trope. Asha is obnoxious early. She mellows out, but these hyper modern main characters are overdone.
2. The references were WAY too forced. Like the seven friends. Seven dwarves. I get it. Cute, not too in your face. Then at the end the angry one goes "this is why I'm always grumpy!" Bro, we know. "You can be our fairy godmother!" Huh? Where'd that come from? The Mickey Mouse ears in the fireworks. We get it, then Star WINKS. WE KNOW, DISNEY. The there's someone who wants to fly who is just straight up wearing Peter Pan's outfit. Just give him the hat! WE'RE NOT STUPID.
3. Songs were pretty forgettable. Not bad, not great.
4. Story could have been great but was really shallow. It felt rushed. I feel like there could have been more nuance. Maybe the villain grants a majority of wishes but not everyone's. Instead it's very clear that he's in the wrong. Or maybe having your wishes granted without work and dedication is unfulfilling.
I get it, it's a kids movie, but kids are smarter than we think they are.
Depends where they are aiming.
My 6 year old didn't get any of the references till they were right on screen. She hooted and hollered when the dwarf said grumpy, when she saw the fireworks, and the Peter Pan cosplay. All giggles. It made her feel familiar. Otherwise it's all pretty breezy in the film.
The movie aimed young, especially compared to recent animations that have been trying to go broader/older kids.
And does a good job delivering.
She was very creeped out by magnificio, the fact he was telegraphed early as being bad and now delightful he embraced the dark sides of him was very easy for her to understand and then instantly have an emotional reaction to. His song was even her favorite one (while mine was the revolution one, enjoyed the complexities)
Compare that to Disney's Strange World, which we also saw, and that whole movie went way over her head. She also likes Elemental, but more so for the visuals than the story, which again isn't something she at her age could really connect to.
Wish felt squarely aimed at young imaginations (and baited parents with Disney nostalgia), and I think many miss the point (and probably crap on it yet again for diversifying Disney stories, as is the theme these days. Mind you, I don't mean this thread, just the rhetoric I see online which I'm happy to avoid)
