The Walt Disney Company was founded in the fall of 1923. This year marks the 100th anniversary of that business. The theme parks, including Disneyland on the west coast and Disney World on the east coast, have been acknowledging it. There have also been special exhibitions in the Midwest and overseas in cities like London. To cap this year's events, animators have crafted this narrative, which is essentially a cinematic celebration of Disney's centennial. Obviously, the Walt Disney Company started as a cartoon studio, known for its 2D renderings. Disney purchased Pixar Animation back in 2006, which is known for its 3D renderings. I've talked before about Pixar's formula, a template plot for a lot of its narratives. If you go back to Disney's first theatrically released feature, that of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and follow its releases into the present, it's easy to identify Disney's formula, which is a template of a lot of fairy tales.
This film isn't technically an adaptation of any fairy tale, but it very much follows that same Disney formula to a tee. This could be considered a criticism, but it's very much purposeful, as this film is meant to be a representation of the fact that Disney is 100 years old. In fact, there is a character in this narrative who is literally celebrating his 100th birthday. This character's wish is to create art that inspires people. This character is no doubt meant to be a proxy for the company in question. If one is therefore familiar with the body of work of said company, then not only will the formula be recognizable but so will the myriad of references to that Disney filmography.
For example, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the antagonist has an obsession with mirrors and talking to them. The antagonist here has the exact same obsession. The second theatrical release from Disney was Pinocchio (1940), which is notable because it became the first animated film to win a competitive Academy Award. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star." Part of the premise of this film is basically the same as the lyrics of that song. The third theatrical release from Disney was Fantasia (1940), which is one of, if not the first feature to have Mickey Mouse. The plot of Mickey Mouse in that film is him becoming a sorcerer's apprentice. That's exactly part of the premise here as well.
Ariana DeBose (West Side Story and Hamilton) voices Asha, a young woman who lives with her parents on an island called Rosas that was created by a sorcerer named King Magnifico, voiced by Chris Pine (Wonder Woman and Star Trek). King Magnifico has the ability to grant people's wishes but only chooses to grant certain wishes and not all. Everyone else's wishes gets housed in his castle and causes people to lose their memories about it. It's actually a rip-off of The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990), but isn't as emotionally resonating. When Asha learns that Magnifico won't grant most of the wishes, this causes her to wish upon a star in the sky, which brings down a literal star that helps her to get the memories and wishes back to people.
Beyond this sequence of events, there are numerous references, either visual or verbal, to many of Disney's repertoire, including Bambi (1942), Peter Pan (1953), Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and even something more recent like Frozen (2013), which makes sense because Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee who were the directors of that 2013 blockbuster are also the co-directors and co-writers here. There's even a throwaway line to Zootopia (2016) and I would even argue that the ending here is practically the same as the one in Aladdin (1992).
This film has so many blatant references. It's less a story or narrative and it's more of a victory lap from the company. I wouldn't even say that it's a nostalgia play. If it were, it could've played in a way similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Yet, Buck and Lee could've thought doing it that way might have been too blatant or on-the-nose. The company could've felt it already made that nostalgia play with Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), so it didn't want to repeat itself so soon, but there are ways Buck and Lee could have done it without it being as satirical as it was in that 2018 flick. The comedy here is more silly than satirical and more cutesy than cutting.
There's also probably as many songs here as in Frozen. I'm not sure any of them are as memorable as the songs in Frozen. "I'm a Star," which is a signature song here, might be a break-out. The song sung by Chris Pine, that of "This Is the Thanks I Get?!," has the potential of being something that goes viral on TikTok. Otherwise, it's not a blow-your-mind kind of soundtrack, but, I wasn't that taken with the soundtrack for Encanto (2021) and that was one of the biggest music hits of the 2021-2022 season.
Rated PG for thematic elements and mild action.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 35 mins.
In theaters.