I might be one of the few people who genuinely likes the movie. I say this as someone who is not a Disney pixie duster shill nor am I someone who blatantly despises anything Disney puts out and is willing to tear to shreds to stick it to a big corporation.
I am simply someone who grew up watching and loves Disney movies and while I do lampoon a lot of what modern Disney has put out and recoil at the controversies the company gets into on what appears to be a weekly basis, I don't wish for the company I used to love to fail this badly and that's why I gave this movie a chance. I told myself I would never support a live action Disney remake as I feel that remaking their classic animation library is creative bankruptcy so when this was announced, I was very interested in it.
The movie is good, and I know that will sound like I'm being paid to say so, I'm not and if I were I'd have rated this higher. I would say it's a victim of bad marketing, overblown hate and the symptom of a growing culture war festering in Hollywood and entertainment as a whole.
The positives of the film for starters are that the music and soundtrack are phenomenal. I know some will say the music feels AI generated, but in my opinion, I loved them, especially At All Costs and This Wish. There were a few that did feel mid, but overall, the music is well done. The voice acting performances were stellar, Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine steal the spotlight whenever their characters were on screen and my god did it help this story a lot.
The story and characters are serviceable, it's the very definition of "safe" which is not what the centennial anniversary movie should be, but I'd rather this type of movie over the other preachy and condescending content that's being pumped out by Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar etc. For once the comedy was genuinely funny at least to me and each moment felt well timed and appropriate, it wasn't immersion breaking in my view.
Asha is a decent protagonist/heroine who has genuine love for her people and her family and friends. Her seven friends are also quirky in their own ways but don't become annoying at all, her talking goat, Valentino is not overused and as much as I rag on the King, he was quite entertaining. The Queen was alright, she was kinda meh. The star is the cutest character and just the sweetest thing.
Good news for those wondering, there are no political or modern-day social messages in this film as far as I'm aware. A lot of misinformation is being spread around the internet about the premise of this movie in a rather hyperbolic manner, and I would say it's a bit disingenuous. Just because a movie has a black female lead and an ethnically diverse cast of characters doesn't make it bad by default considering the plot has explained why so many groups of people migrated to the kingdom.
That being said the negatives are a bit mixed in that regard.
Asha's character has been mischaracterized a lot in the marketing as well as King Magnifico's. She doesn't seek to grant everyone's wishes like some communist activist, she just wants the King to give back the wishes he deems not worthy to be granted, allowing those who do want their wishes realized to work for it on their own. She has very selfless motives and wants better for everyone in her kingdom and she admits she made a mistake and fixes it as best she can. She's by no means a Mary Sue, and she has flaws that are understandable given her naivete and youth.
Likewise, with Magnifico, he's probably the one character that feels a bit rushed and forced into the villain role. I've disliked how many twist villains or redeemed misunderstood baddies we've gotten in recent years, but I feel this villain almost overcorrects that and gives us what we want but lacks the charm that the others gave us. We know characters like Ursula, Maleficent, Captain Hook, Hades etc. Were charming and campy in their own ways and the films they were in were not afraid to show us how devious they were and relished it to an almost absurd degree which is what a lot of people expect. We knew they were suspicious and untrustworthy from the get-go, whereas the King's arc feels mishandled.
The problem with King Magnifico is that he feels a bit too realistic compared to them, and his descent into villainy feels forced to accommodate for that role. He's painted in a way that makes you feel sympathetic towards his goals, but towards the end when he goes off the deep end, he just becomes a completely different character altogether. Forbidden magic corruption aside it feels jarring when it should have been a gradual descent. Not only that, but he also comes off more monstrous and irredeemable than someone who's just unrealistically campy or over the top, his actions feel incongruous with how he was initially portrayed, and he's defeated way too easily for me to see him as a genuine threat.
The animation is also really muddy in the beginning, the blending of 3D and 2D art doesn't mesh well at times, but when you get into the story you almost forget it. It's not a bad looking film by any means, but I think they should have gone back to 2D animation for the 100-year film as opposed to this weird hybrid animation that feels like it's copying Spider verse.
I appreciate the movie for not overstaying it's welcome and it's at a good time length, and yet the pacing was rather fast. One moment characters will be talking and the next we get bombarded with three song numbers back-to-back, more talking and a few minutes later more singing which feels a bit jarring.
I also believe the absence of romance wasn't needed in this film despite what most people would say it not being a fairytale without romance. I believe if the movie had a romantic subplot, it would have felt tacked on, forced and honestly superfluous. It can work in another story, but just not this one and that's okay, not every Disney story needs to have someone making bedroom eyes to another person to be considered a good story.
My last critique of the film is the ending. The King literally absorbs so much wish magic and the star itself and yet with the power of song and rallying the people, Asha is able to defeat the king when the people create new wishes, despite him being nigh unstoppable. It felt a bit anticlimactic, but again it wasn't that bad. It does fumble with the idea of him being a powerful magician when he's this easily defeated by a girl with barely any magic in her and singing.
Despite all of my critiques, the movie is decent, but it's not amazing. I will say it does not deserve the overblown hate it gets, the movie isn't groundbreaking, it just is a safe Disney movie you can see with your family. Some might view the ending as Disney retconning their entire movie catalogue, but even then, that's a complete stretch in my opinion and most of it is unfounded, but again I won't put it past them to pull some shenanigans.
I personally recommend it if you want something cute, wholesome and fluffy. It may not be a masterpiece, but it's not the big bad monster it's being painted to be.
I am simply someone who grew up watching and loves Disney movies and while I do lampoon a lot of what modern Disney has put out and recoil at the controversies the company gets into on what appears to be a weekly basis, I don't wish for the company I used to love to fail this badly and that's why I gave this movie a chance. I told myself I would never support a live action Disney remake as I feel that remaking their classic animation library is creative bankruptcy so when this was announced, I was very interested in it.
The movie is good, and I know that will sound like I'm being paid to say so, I'm not and if I were I'd have rated this higher. I would say it's a victim of bad marketing, overblown hate and the symptom of a growing culture war festering in Hollywood and entertainment as a whole.
The positives of the film for starters are that the music and soundtrack are phenomenal. I know some will say the music feels AI generated, but in my opinion, I loved them, especially At All Costs and This Wish. There were a few that did feel mid, but overall, the music is well done. The voice acting performances were stellar, Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine steal the spotlight whenever their characters were on screen and my god did it help this story a lot.
The story and characters are serviceable, it's the very definition of "safe" which is not what the centennial anniversary movie should be, but I'd rather this type of movie over the other preachy and condescending content that's being pumped out by Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar etc. For once the comedy was genuinely funny at least to me and each moment felt well timed and appropriate, it wasn't immersion breaking in my view.
Asha is a decent protagonist/heroine who has genuine love for her people and her family and friends. Her seven friends are also quirky in their own ways but don't become annoying at all, her talking goat, Valentino is not overused and as much as I rag on the King, he was quite entertaining. The Queen was alright, she was kinda meh. The star is the cutest character and just the sweetest thing.
Good news for those wondering, there are no political or modern-day social messages in this film as far as I'm aware. A lot of misinformation is being spread around the internet about the premise of this movie in a rather hyperbolic manner, and I would say it's a bit disingenuous. Just because a movie has a black female lead and an ethnically diverse cast of characters doesn't make it bad by default considering the plot has explained why so many groups of people migrated to the kingdom.
That being said the negatives are a bit mixed in that regard.
Asha's character has been mischaracterized a lot in the marketing as well as King Magnifico's. She doesn't seek to grant everyone's wishes like some communist activist, she just wants the King to give back the wishes he deems not worthy to be granted, allowing those who do want their wishes realized to work for it on their own. She has very selfless motives and wants better for everyone in her kingdom and she admits she made a mistake and fixes it as best she can. She's by no means a Mary Sue, and she has flaws that are understandable given her naivete and youth.
Likewise, with Magnifico, he's probably the one character that feels a bit rushed and forced into the villain role. I've disliked how many twist villains or redeemed misunderstood baddies we've gotten in recent years, but I feel this villain almost overcorrects that and gives us what we want but lacks the charm that the others gave us. We know characters like Ursula, Maleficent, Captain Hook, Hades etc. Were charming and campy in their own ways and the films they were in were not afraid to show us how devious they were and relished it to an almost absurd degree which is what a lot of people expect. We knew they were suspicious and untrustworthy from the get-go, whereas the King's arc feels mishandled.
The problem with King Magnifico is that he feels a bit too realistic compared to them, and his descent into villainy feels forced to accommodate for that role. He's painted in a way that makes you feel sympathetic towards his goals, but towards the end when he goes off the deep end, he just becomes a completely different character altogether. Forbidden magic corruption aside it feels jarring when it should have been a gradual descent. Not only that, but he also comes off more monstrous and irredeemable than someone who's just unrealistically campy or over the top, his actions feel incongruous with how he was initially portrayed, and he's defeated way too easily for me to see him as a genuine threat.
The animation is also really muddy in the beginning, the blending of 3D and 2D art doesn't mesh well at times, but when you get into the story you almost forget it. It's not a bad looking film by any means, but I think they should have gone back to 2D animation for the 100-year film as opposed to this weird hybrid animation that feels like it's copying Spider verse.
I appreciate the movie for not overstaying it's welcome and it's at a good time length, and yet the pacing was rather fast. One moment characters will be talking and the next we get bombarded with three song numbers back-to-back, more talking and a few minutes later more singing which feels a bit jarring.
I also believe the absence of romance wasn't needed in this film despite what most people would say it not being a fairytale without romance. I believe if the movie had a romantic subplot, it would have felt tacked on, forced and honestly superfluous. It can work in another story, but just not this one and that's okay, not every Disney story needs to have someone making bedroom eyes to another person to be considered a good story.
My last critique of the film is the ending. The King literally absorbs so much wish magic and the star itself and yet with the power of song and rallying the people, Asha is able to defeat the king when the people create new wishes, despite him being nigh unstoppable. It felt a bit anticlimactic, but again it wasn't that bad. It does fumble with the idea of him being a powerful magician when he's this easily defeated by a girl with barely any magic in her and singing.
Despite all of my critiques, the movie is decent, but it's not amazing. I will say it does not deserve the overblown hate it gets, the movie isn't groundbreaking, it just is a safe Disney movie you can see with your family. Some might view the ending as Disney retconning their entire movie catalogue, but even then, that's a complete stretch in my opinion and most of it is unfounded, but again I won't put it past them to pull some shenanigans.
I personally recommend it if you want something cute, wholesome and fluffy. It may not be a masterpiece, but it's not the big bad monster it's being painted to be.