(+++) DREAMS COME TRUE?

Wish: The Deluxe Junior Novelization. Adapted by Erin Falligant. Random House. $10.99.

Wish. Adapted by Suzanne Francis. Illustrated by the Disney Storybook Art Team. Golden Books. $10.99.

     Someone in the vast Disney organization, bless his or her heart, actually remembers When You Wish Upon a Star, the marvelous song by Leigh Harline (music) and Ned Washington (lyrics) that won Disney the 1940 Academy Award for Best Original Song – the first Disney song to win an Oscar. Unfortunately for pretty much the whole world, although the song, out of context, remains Disney’s “signature tune” and appears, in whole or more usually in part, in many guises, the superb animated feature for which When You Wish Upon a Star was created, Pinocchio (1940), has now somehow frightened the politically correct crowd in the Disney universe and has been downplayed to the point of disappearance, leaving the world a little bit poorer in imagination. This is not as great a travesty and injustice as the total whitewashing – and that is exactly the right word – of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (1946), by Allie Wrubel (music) and Ray Gilbert (lyrics), which won Disney’s second Academy Award for Best Original Song and which the modern, small-minded Disney plutocrats (again, exactly the right word, although it should probably be capitalized) have done their best to consign to utter oblivion.

     Well, a few remnants of wishing upon a star do remain here and there, and have made their way into the new Disney film Wish, a less-than-magical treatment of a magical theme that hits the right notes for the current Disney leadership without actually asking the audience to, you know, think or feel except in the most obvious ways. It has the now-standard heroic darker-skinned female protagonist with the now-standard ultra-supportive family, the now-standard faithful and mildly amusing animal companion, and the now-standard evildoer who is instantly identifiable by being a) male and b) handsome (keys to identifying bad guys in Disney films at least since Beauty and the Beast back in 1991). Sweet do-gooder Asha lives in a land specifically created so people will be safe and have a chance to have their fondest wishes granted; being 100% selfless, all she wants is to have her grandfather’s wish be chosen for fulfillment on his 100^th birthday; that does not happen, because the ruling king, Magnifico (obviously evil: just check out that name!), worries that Asha’s grandfather’s wish might somehow jeopardize the kingdom (which makes no sense, but does not have to make sense in modern Disney); so Asha, who has instantly realized the underlying rottenness of Magnifico’s treatment of wishes, makes a wish on her own. She wishes, yes, on a star, which promptly comes down to the land of Rosas (where all this takes place) and, after several mild adventures, ensures that Magnifico victimizes only himself and all the people get a chance to make their own wishes come true.

     Jiminy Cricket, what a plot mishmash! Still, the film has some attractive visual elements, the cardboard characters are as easily relatable as are most characters in current movies (not only Disney ones), and the plump little yellow star that eventually bestows a magic wand (!) on Asha is as sweet as can be. Unlike many older Disney films but very much like many recent ones, Wish is strictly for kids. The actual ages to which it is intended to appeal are not entirely clear: Asha is 17 (although very young for a teenager), but the plot and most characters seem aimed at kids in the 4-8 age range. So for those who do fancy the film and want to revisit it in books after seeing it on screen, there are options based on moviegoers’ ages. The Deluxe Junior Novelization is a straightforward retelling of the movie’s plot, including a small bound-in poster and eight pages of scenes from the film. The oldest fans of the film, likely in the preteen age group, will find it satisfying as a remembrance of the movie. The Golden Book version of Wish is a 28-page encapsulation of the tale, mostly using art derived from the film to tell the story – with some connective tissue in the words. It will be fine for younger children, who are more likely than older ones to be fans of the movie.

     To be fair to Disney-as-it-is, there is nothing inherently wrong with formulaic filmmaking except that it is, you know, formulaic. Today’s youngest film viewers know nothing of Disney’s history in the movie business and have likely never seen the classics that made the company what it is today. In fact, modern Disney is assiduously trying to keep today’s kids from becoming attached to the older films by making those movies difficult or impossible to see and by directing today’s young audiences either to live-action remakes of classics or to all-new, simple films such as Wish. Still, there must be at least a few people within Disney with a modicum of knowledge of the company’s genuinely creative past. And they must have had a wry chuckle or two at the fact that the people of Rosas eventually overcome Magnifico by, of all things, singing. Just don’t expect to hear Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket, crooning When You Wish Upon a Star.