Wish is an all-singing all-dancing Disney classic with a big ol’ modern twist! From cute singing animals and evil villains to wise-cracking sidekicks – this is oldschool Disney, brought right up to date! But did you know just how much of Disney’s history has been poured into this movie? Read on to find out 15 of the most interesting Wish movie facts, especially for all you Disney nerds!

Looking for more Disney facts? Have a look at these Encanto facts, these Frozen facts, or even these Walt Disney facts!

1. It’s all about a star

As well as being a great story in it’s own right, Wish is about the glowing star that you can see in the background of almost all Disney movies. There is a lot of lore in Disney, and one of the cool things about Wish is it helps lots of other Disney stories fit together a little bit better – by explaining the star! Let’s find out more about the star!

2. A star is born

Disney’s star has a long history! It first appeared in an early version of Snow White, from 1937! It comes from a scene where Snow White and the Prince were dancing, surrounded by smiling stars. Since then stars and wishing have been themes in Disney movies, so it’s great there’s a move now that fills out some of the star’s character!

3. Wish upon a Star

Ok – this star is everywhere in the Disney back catalogue! “When You Wish Upon a Star” was a song recorded for the Pinocchio soundtrack back in the 1940s! The song went down in movie history and was recently recognised by the US Government as having a huge cultural impact.

4. Wishing is all about imagination

It’s hard to make a Disney film more Disney than they’ve managed with Wish! It’s full of classic Disney themes, and according to Disney itself, making wishes is at the very heart of what the company does. If you can imagine something – you can do it! And for almost 100 years Disney have tried to make childrens’ wishes come true!

5. The art style is a throwback too

Wish’s amazing art style also connects modern Disney with the past, by mixing an old-fashioned hand-drawn style with the latest CGI effects. The aim is to connect the artist and their human hand with the movie, but also to take advantage of all the cool things modern animation can do! It’s the best of both worlds!

6. A classic villain!

King Magnifico is in many ways the classic Disney villain. He’s arrogant, scheming, and a huge hypocrite. Disney have really harked back to early villains like Gaston, Ursula and other classic evil-doers. Disney sure do know how to write ’em!

7. Wish is Disney’s birthday present

The reason Disney has gone on such a nostalgia fest with the movie Wish is for a very good reason – Disney was 100 years old in 2023! So to mark the occasion they’ve made Wish, because it combines old and new in such a clever way. Makes sense!

8. The music is award-winning!

The soundtrack to Wish was written by two very successful and award-winning composers, Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice. Julia was nominated for a Grammy award, and Benjamin won one! So it’s no surprise that the music sounds good in the movie!

9. The star looks like Mickey… kind of

According to rumours, the design for Star was modelled on Mickey Mouse’s face! We can kind of see a resemblance, but both have pretty simple faces. Star is literally just two eyes and a mouth! They do have the same cheerful mood, but we might need to see some more proof of this one! What do you think?

10. Wish has a winning team behind it

Of course, Disney has a hundred years of experience in creating magical kids movies. But they’ve chosen some especially talented people to make this film a reality. It’s directors are Chris Buck, who directed Frozen, and Fawn Veerasunthorn, who directed Raya and the Dragon. So some big, Oscar-winning names are behind this latest movie!

11. Valentino is a seasoned pro

Valentino, the talking goat with the surprisingly deep voice, is played by actor Alan Tudyk. Alan has been in a LOT of Disney movies recently – in fact every single once since 2012! Wish is his 11th Disney movie! That’s quite a career for such a small goat!

12. Asha’s friends are based on the Seven Dwarves

The throwbacks don’t stop! Dario is based on Dopey, Safi is based on Sneezy, Simon is based on Sleepy, Hal is based on Happy – the list goes on! Asha’s friends offer the movie a bunch of goofy, wise-cracking friends who can help Asha and dish out a few laughs. And Asha’s pals are much more believable than keeping them all as short men with squishy red noses!

13. Dahlia

A nice fact about this movie that you may not know is about Dahlia, Asha’s friend who is a gifted baker. Dahlia is the unofficial head of Asha’s friend group, inspired by Doc from Snow White. She is played by the actor Jennifer Kumiyama, who is disabled in real life. As a tribute to Jennifer, the team behind Wish chose to give Dahlia a crutch as well!

14. Wish is set in Medieval Spain

The setting for Wish is a really interesting one! The island of Rosas is meant to be south of the Iberian Peninsula (that’s Spain and Portugal), during the middle ages some time. Medieval Spain was an exciting place to live, with a mix of cultures from Europe, North Africa and the Muslim world. You can see this mix in the characters!

15. Wish is also about the future

Whilst Wish is set in the past, and is full of refences to older Disney films, it’s also an example of Disney doing things differently. Asha is a much stronger character than Cinderella and Snow White, and thankfully Disney has continued to make the girl characters in it’s movies more exciting, more independent, and less wimpy! So as well as being an awesome movie, Wish is a great way to see how far Disney has come – and where they might be heading in future!