“Wish,” the latest Disney film, is a “homage to fairy tales” for Jennifer Lee.

The latest Disney film, “Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star,” hits theaters on November 29th. Walt Disney Animation Studios President Jennifer Lee tells us more about this new animated film.

Disney is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The first studios were founded on October 16, 1923. From then on, history was made for the company that would revolutionize animated cinema and become one of the most influential studios in Hollywood a hundred years later.

It is therefore impossible for them animated film Disney, which is coming to cinemas in its anniversary year, does not mention the studio’s history. And that was the challenge for the producers of Wish: Asha and the lucky star, this Wednesday, November 29, 2023, in the cinema: combining tradition and modernity. Viewers can discover the story of a teenage girl dedicated to her community and living in a kingdom where all desires can be fulfilled. One evening of desperation, as she prays to the lucky star, her wish is miraculously granted.

In a roundtable interview before the film’s release, Jennifer Lee, president of Walt Disney Animation studios and director of the franchise Snow Queenrecalls that this 62nd animated film “responds to the desire to pay a great homage to the classic fairy tales”.

“I certainly wanted to pay homage to the genre, but just lay the foundation of the film. The balance between homage and modernity was really achieved on multiple levels and in multiple moments in the making of the film.”

Modernize references

Disney fans will find many tried and tested recipes in this new animated film. The audience can playfully look for allusions to previous films and will remember the references Pinocchio or Snow White and the seven dwarves. Connoisseurs will easily associate the main plot of the feature film, the fact of dreaming and having a wish, with the blue fairy Pinocchio. Asha literally prays to the lucky star.

If the homage is obvious, the challenge lies for the creators of Wish It was good to turn this cliché on its head and modernize it: “It’s really a film that says that making a wish is, above all, a call to action,” emphasizes Jennifer Lee. “It is up to you to fulfill this wish. Don’t wait for someone to do it for you.”

The return of the Disney villain

An iconic character from Disney Studios returns here Wish: Asha and the lucky star : the great evil, here in the form of Magnifico (Lambert Wilson in French version). In the latest studio films, the heroes and heroines often fight against the elements or forces of nature or even against lurking villains.

This is not the case here, as Magnifico can recall former great Disney antagonists such as Jafar or Ursula: “Since we wanted to pay homage to the old Disney characters, one of the things that amused us was to return to this concept.” ” A villain who wonders what he would look like today,” recalls Jennifer Lee. “With Magnifico we really wanted to understand his psyche and his motivations.”

And Wish: Asha and the lucky star adopts elements from the old Disney moviesHowever, this does not mean that it was a long, calm river when it was conceived. From a technical point of view, the animation proved complex: “We knew we wanted to pay homage to the watercolor style, the brushwork and the artist, using the most innovative technology possible. But when we started, we didn’t have this technology ready.” Working on the feature film.” Now it’s up to the audience to admire the result in the cinema.