In yet another low point in Disney’s recent endeavors, “Wish,” the movie marking Disney’s 100th anniversary, has proven to be a thorough disappointment in multiple ways. It received a 48% on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, making it one of the lowest ranked Disney movies with a theatrical release. It also did poorly financially, so far making back only $73.6 million of its reported budget of $200 million. While it may earn more once it hits streaming services, it will have to make more than $300 million dollars to be considered a financial success.

Watching the movie, it becomes clear why the movie is ranked so low, critically. The animation is beautiful at certain points in the movie, but at the beginning of the movie it almost looks like a first render. That being said, there are positives about the movie. The acting was excellent, especially with Chris Pine as Magnifico. Unfortunately, their lines still fall flat due to the script having a poor quality, despite the talented and experienced team of directors and writers that worked on it.

In addition, the script also provides lazy references to previous Disney properties in an attempt to justify its release on Disney’s 100th anniversary, as well as twists that are predictable as they are thankfully short lived. The characters remain mostly stagnant, save for the villain, who changes from a character with a somewhat interesting motivation and flaws, to just another power hungry egotist. Overall, the movie suffers from an overwhelming blandness. It hits the same beats as the Disney classics, but with none of the charm or emotion. However, this is not just an issue with this movie, but an underlying issue with many of Disney’s recent animated movies.

Ever since “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse” was released in 2018, audiences have clamored for a new wave of animation, due to how formulaic movies in the animated medium had become. Of all the studios affected by this new change, Disney has tried the hardest to resist this change, releasing a multitude of movies that can be described as having a high budget and low effort. Wish can safely be added to this list. While Disney did experiment with the animation with varying degrees of success, it still proved to be the bare minimum in attracting attention from audiences.

All in all, it is unclear where Disney’s future lies. With Disney remaining stagnant while other studios explore their creative options, the beloved animation studio might get left in the dust. Or, Wish might be the final nail in the coffin for Disney. Wish’s failure might make Disney realize that they must adapt in order to keep up with the changes in the animation industry.