Wish: Disney's new film lacks usual magic, critics say

From the moment the first princess in 1937 debuted on our screens, Disney knew it had created a winning formula, and almost 100 years later these timeless tales and enchanting characters still captivate the minds of the audience.

However, Disney's latest princess film Wish seems to have missed the mark with critics - falling somewhere between honouring the past nostalgia of classic fairy-tale stories and launching itself into a new era of modern movie making.

The film, co-written by Frozen's Jennifer Lee, follows the story of 17-year-old Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) who lives in a land where residents share their greatest wish with King Magnifico in the hope it will come true.

However, over the course of an hour and a half, Asha realises she must save her kingdom from the king's sinister purpose of wish gathering and granting.

In a two-star review, the Guardian's Benjamin Lee called it "an off-brand rip-off, aesthetically and inferior to Disney's Oscar winning film Frozen that was released 10 years ago.

He said that although the plot brings up some "intriguing ideas", the film "slides into bog standard formula with an ungainly script".

Kevin Maher of The Times described the film as "emotionally inert and personality-free" in a one-star review, and said it features too many "clunky references to past hits" that are "shoehorned into an anaemic story".

He added that Disney's centenary animated feature "feels like an attempt, after a wobbly decade, to return the brand to first principles. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a self-portrait of an altogether less flattering type - a sort of Corporate Identity Crisis: The Movie."

Variety's Owen Gleiberman noted that although the film "self-consciously packs 85 years of animated magic into a portable Disney fable", it remains, for children, a "visually pleasing, eminently watchable slice of enchanted product - with a plot that's both mildly touching and slightly strange".

He also praises Chris Pine's performance as the narcissistic king who "gives you someone to root against".

Whilst true Disney fans may find the numerous shoehorned references overwhelming, namely Asha's seven friends who possess strikingly similar trait to the dwarfs in Snow White and the borrowed musical motif from Leigh Harline's Pinocchio theme When You Wish Upon A Star, Empire's John Nugent said said in his three-star review that "for the most part you can enjoy the film for what it is and younger viewers are unlikely to pick up on the deeper cuts".

Awarding it three stars, he wrote: "The movie must salute fairy tales past, without ever suggesting the company's glory days are over. It also has to feel smart and contemporary while getting on the wrong side of absolutely no one.

"More often, Wish is nervously risk-averse. The remit remains a Catch 22. The movie is so busy referencing the classics, it makes itself an afterthought."