In the universal tradition of closing one’s eyes and conjuring up a hopeful request, many fans of Walt Disney’s Animation Studios will soon be delighted by the company’s 100-year anniversary gift to us, marking the beginning of what will likely be another century of theatrical magic — that is, the upcoming film, Wish. To the delight of Disney fans worldwide, a wish will be granted this November via this whimsical animated feature.

The writer and executive producer of Wish, Jennifer Lee (Frozen and Frozen 2), recently told MovieWeb and a variety of critics in attendance at Disney’s early sneak peek at the film, “There is no greater power in the universe than someone with a true wish in their heart.” Such is the theme of this delightful and exquisitely rendered film.

Wish is a musical comedy with original songs from Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/musician Benjamin Rice that are so enthralling they feel instantly timeless. The film’s an empowering and culturally gorgeous story about a girl named Asha (Ariana DeBose, West Side Story), who, at 17 years old, lives with an adorable pajama-wearing pet goat name Valentino (Alan Tudyk, Encanto) in Rosas, a fictitious island with a beautiful kaleidoscope of races of people, near the Iberian Peninsula. Early screenings of Wish hint at the promise of yet another classic. Check out our thoughts on the early screening of the film and what its creators had to say about it below.

Meet Asha, Disney’s New Empowering Girl Character

Asha lives in a place called Rosas, a complicated, albeit desperately hopeful, place that is governed by a power-hungry and wish-granting leader named King Magnifico (Chris Pine, Wonder Woman). “People come from all around the world to give their wishes to this wonderful king who promises to keep their dreams safe,” said director Chris Buck (Frozen) during our recent exclusive sneak peek of the film.

To complicate the fantasy of having access to wishes, King Magnifico is a man drunk on his own power over the people. In fact, his presence in one wish-granting ceremony is reminiscent of an evangelical star who is praised by parishioners who pour all of their faith, and literally their wishes, into their leader. Being the wise and fearless young lady that she is, however, Asha, initially in awe of and hoping to work for the King, doesn’t buy it.

Seeing through King Magnifico’s artifice and into his disingenuous character, Asha makes a powerful wish and poof, enter an adorable character named Star who becomes an actual light that guides Asha along her way in what is a captivating animation presentation.

How Ariana Brought Asha to Life
Disney

One of the most intriguing aspects of Wish is the distinct detail of Asha’s facial expressions. For reference, the animators had a camera set up during DeBose’s audio recording session and literally used her facial expressions as inspiration for their animations.

Pine elaborated on the extent in which DeBose’s physicality informed the character of Asha. “She’s very, very active within the booth.” He offered lightheartedly:

“Sometimes maybe a little too much, because the sound engineer is like, ‘Ariana, can you move back on the mic a little bit?’ But you know, she’s in the booth acting it all out and we record all of it. The animators, all the way down to the mouth shapes, eye shapes, anything that she’s done they use it. Ariana is so expressive, and she’s just so much fun to work with.”

He added, “She gives you a lot of takes. And Jen and Allison write an incredible script for our actors to be able to play with, too. So Ariana just takes it and makes it her own.”

Related: Disney’s Wish: Why You Should Be Excited for This Upcoming Film

Lee also chimed in on Ariana’s charmed presence as Asha. “She just brought so much vulnerability. Here we have a character rising from just a young teen with very present dreams being challenged, and having to rise to a level she didn’t know if she had inside her. And Ariana was so fantastic to be so honest and open and warm, and, like I said, vulnerable about all of that. We connect with the actor at a level that’s so true in their heart, and then it helps animation. You hear how they would say it, what would matter to them. It’s always a critical part of our process.”

The Look and Sound of Wish
Disney

In addition to an intriguing plot, and dynamic characters presented by a stellar cast, the look and sound of Wish are remarkable.

Regarding the distinctive and forward-moving look of the film, Pine said, “It’s that hand-drawn look combined with the computer. It is very hard to describe. I won’t even try to because I’d mess it up, but basically, there’s a bit of line around the character, but sometimes the characters are still animated in CG. We have a lot of amazing artists and technicians that truly push us. It’s doing what we’ve always loved to do, which is sort of embracing our legacy, but also moving us towards the future of animation.”

Related: 25 Best Animated Disney Characters of All Time, Ranked

Beyond that iconic look, what would a Disney animation be without incredible music? Julia Michaels offered:

Every song drives the story forward. Every song is a reveal of character or emotion. And even in being silly, there’s something in it that the heroines take with them, in this case. And so, she went with that so beautifully.

Michaels further revealed an additional accomplishment for the music in Wish. “One of the big things for us, too, was to try things we’ve always wanted to do, but we’ve never done,” she said. “I’m gonna tease a song, but I won’t say what it is… There’s an approach for a song that I have always dreamed of having, a moment where the protagonist and villain are aligned in their philosophies because it’s before life really challenges them.”

Fans of Disney’s music and animation can discover what song she is referring to and whether Asha’s wish comes true when Wish is released in theaters worldwide on November 22, 2023.