‘Wish’ Review: Disney Goes Back to Basics With Animated Musical

Disney has created an entire legacy on the concept of wishing on a star, but what happens if that star was an adorable, autonomous being? That’s just the start of Disney’s centennial feature, “Wish,” an animated musical that simultaneously pays homage to the Walt Disney Company while forging a new path of storytelling meant to sustain another hundred years.

But the idea of making a film to represent 100 years of storytelling is a tall feat, and it’s the biggest barrier to “Wish.” For all the film’s adoration of the Disney Company, and it’s back to basic approach of celebrating a great villain (and, boy, is this movie’s villain amazing), Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore’s screenplay often feels underwritten, with characters who are delightful but lacking that wee bit of verisimilitude to make them jump off the page.