One hundred years of Disney animation is no small feat to celebrate! We had the opportunity to take a sneak peek at the historic 100th anniversary animated short, “Once Upon a Studio” and feature film, “Wish.”
Honoring Walt Wishes
Disney history is riddled with stars and wishes, so what better motif to rely upon for their momentous one hundredth feature film? Co-directors Chris Buck (“Frozen,” “Frozen 2”) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (Head of Story “Raya and the Last Dragon”) helm this fantastical feature. Walt Disney Animation Studios own Chief Creative Officer, Jennifer Lee, serves as writer and executive producer.
It stars Academy Award®-winner Ariana DeBose as Asha. Living in the Kingdom of Rosas, she has a dream, a dream to become the King’s apprentice. The king is played by none other than Chris Pine as Magnifico (who yes, sings because this is indeed a musical). The film is a testament to Walt Disney’s legacy while also continuing to push the boundaries of what the studio hopes to achieve.
King Magnifico is a self appointed monarch and founder of the Kingdom of Rosas. He is also the granter of wishes with a less than altruistic agenda. As Asha tries to help her grandfather achieve his wish before he turns 100, she encounters Star. Star is inspired by the mouse that started it all, Mickey. With a design modeled after Mickey’s face, Star accompanies Asha on her journey.
Star also brings the DNA of Mickey’s originator with them on their journey to the screen. Lee noted: “Star represents the thing that was critical to Walt, that you need. You need hope. You need possibility. Doesn’t hurt to have some wonder. Don’t forget some joy. All the things that we grab onto that keep us going. So, it helped us cause in building Star, this sense of, Star always reminds you to keep going and possibility.”
Looking Back, Developing Forward
The visuals evoke the classic watercolors of a film like “Sleeping Beauty.” However they are achieved with technology which was originally tested out on 2D / 3D hybrid shorts like “Paperman” and “Feast.” Even the film’s aspect ratio harkens back to the studio’s history, being presented in Cinemascope.
On the blending of the techniques, Veerasunthorn noted: “What I love was it brings our CG artists and 2D artists together. Because, you know, animators will call and ask for advice about how do you put the lines on the face of a character to accentuate the emotion, and they studied that. The effects crew went to the animation research library where you have seen some of the artwork today. And they study how the effects, the graphic shapes of it was translated into our CG process.“
Lee added: “This achievement has meant a lot to us because it’s getting their vision, actually finally having technology and artistry meet in a way that they’re seeing eye to eye, instead of having to compromise.”
There are also fewer fitting ways we could think of paying tribute to the great Disney legends than through music. “Wish” features seven original songs by Julia Michaels. The Grammy-nominated® artist is the youngest person to write all the songs for a Disney movie.
“Wish” also features the voice talents of Alan Tudyk, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Evan Peters, Harvey Guillén, Ramy Youseff, Niko Vargas, Della Saba, and Jon Rudnitsky.
Bringing “Once Upon a Studio” to Life
Also taking on the mantle of celebrating this momentous occasion in the studio’s history are “Once Upon A Studio” co-directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy. The duo along with producers Yvett Merino and Bradfor Simonsen managed to pack 543 characters from more than 85 Disney films into their love letter to the studio’s history.
The film was inspired by the idea of “if these walls could talk” about the storied history of the studio. Though the film features familiar and classic animation, everything was done anew for the short. They took care to put a certain lean on characters and match the look of films like “The Jungle Book,” “Peter Pan,” and “101 Dalmatians.”
They wove in cameo appearances from prolific Disney composer Richard Sherman, and longest serving cast member Burny Mattinson (who worked at the company for a record breaking 70 years, passing away in early 2023). Voice cameos also abound with folks like Jeremy Irons reprising Scar from “The Lion King,” Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle from “Beauty and the Beast,” and many of the the “Frozen” films voice talents including Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, and Josh Gad reprising their roles.
While not every voice actor was able to return, the filmmakers took care to get the absolute best soundalikes they could.
Correy was clear in that “We realized you only get seconds with each character. So, they needed to look and sound exactly how you remember them. And that was very, very important to us.”
In some cases it was imperative to get the original performances, Abraham continued that “I really wanted Cliff Edwards for Jiminy Cricket at the end. I didn’t want to get a soundalike. So, they had to strip away the music from his original recording digitally. Some scientist masterminds were able to figure that out.
“Once Upon a Studio” will debut on ABC during “The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration” on Sunday October 15, 2023.
“Wish” is exclusively in theaters on November 22, 2023.
Here’s a brand new trailer for “Wish”
