why Wish's soulless animation is worse than you thought

I recently watched wish and honestly this movie made me feel so empty that I wasn't even going to make a video on it but as I was watching some rant reviews as one does I had an epiphany wish is a milestone movie for Disney wasn't there another semi recent Milestone movie for Disney and didn't this movie also pay homage to their legacy also innovate a new animation style also suffer drastic story changes and also flop at the box office and didn't this movie also have a kingdom on an island a girl wearing a purple dress who can draw a villain obsessed with mirrors a visually glowing goal and a key location in a tower that's right you guys wish is just the wish version of Tangled this sent me because how can these two movies made from the same company for the same purpose have so many similarities and be so opposite in quality because Tangled is phenomenal it is one of my favorite movies of all time Rapunzel is me I am her sunny and quaint Tangled is the essence of Disney charm in the modern era wish in contrast is soulless this movie which is supposed to represent a legacy ironically represents what Disney is today corporates and charmless and I want to focus on one specific aspect of Disney charm that is in inexcusable for this movie to not have good animation I was so appalled at how hollow wish looked that I read the art book to understand how we got here since I'd already read Tangled's art book it was shocking to see just how many similarities these movies share so let me tell you why only one looks empty spoiler alerts it's because Tangled had a Clear Vision wish wishes it did like I mentioned wish and Tangled are both Milestone movies wish celebrates the 100th year anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios Tangled celebrates the 50th picture produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in both art books their makers mention wanting to respect the past and look towards the future part of this was done by Reinventing Disney's classic animation style for which this meant combining the 2D imagery of the classics with modern 3D technology the idea was to create a 3D moving painting painting and honestly I do not think that this is a bad idea at all especially since the handdrawn look has so much character and is what built the Legacy unfortunately to mix these two mediums together in practice they removed a CG animation technique called motion blur and this is what makes the final product look so unfinished and almost like the movie is made for TV instead of looking charming and artistic like the classics do this style looks cheap and if you want to know more about the the technicality of why this is I'm going to link a great video from an actual animator in the description that explains it much better than I can in contrast Tangled animation is innovative because it was the first CG fairy tale from Disney when designing this look their goal was to translate 2D Disney charm to 3D instead of referencing handrawn techniques they reference the Disney that already exists in three dimensions the parks this result is obviously beautiful but it did not get here without its problems too the animators had to develop completely new complex animation systems and this is why their budget ballooned like crazy and is a main reason why this movie was not profitable at the box office during production the realistic textures of CG also reduced the Disney feel of the story if you think about the 2D films their designs Bend reality which adds a lot of magic and character when they produced Tangled in CG it was too realistic so they had to go back and exact exagerate every single element in this world to make it feel more fairy tale and I think this is one of the main problems with wish their design isn't extreme enough in addition to the 2D 3D animation style wish chose a watercolor SL Line work style to reference the fairy tale drawings that influenced Snow White and Pinocchio and again I really love this idea of 3D watercolor animation and if you look at the concept art for this movie it absolutely feels fairy tale and a lot of it is beautiful but the watercolor effect gets lost in the final render because it's so subtle and I'm going to be completely honest I didn't know this was supposed to be watercolor until I read the art book just look at the watercolor background of Snow White you can physically see the brush strokes and this animation even though it's dated by now it still feels warm and soft and handcrafted I can barely see the simulated brush Strokes in wish I do really like that they add a grainy paper-like effect but it doesn't extend to the skin so the characters feel very disconnected from the environment despite having no reference point for a Disney princess CG animated movie Tangled still understood that photo realism is a not Disney so they changed it during production I refused to believe that no one on the wish team thought that this animation didn't look Disney I also want to recognize that there was a lot of talent working on this movie and I genuinely think that a 2d 3D watercolor animation style could absolutely have worked if the directors or whoever the decision makers were on this movie had the vision to push for a visually appealing version of it perhaps one with a little bit more color because color is one of the biggest elements that affect our emotion and it's so important when making something that is charming and magical it's even more important when you want us to feel the Wonder of the Disney Legacy I've talked about this so many times by this point but they really struggle with color in their live actions and it was so heartbreaking for me to see it in their animation too the color palette of wish is full of what is called tones which is when you take a pure Hue of a color and you add gray to it and I do not understand this choice for this movie gray is used when you want a scene to feel lifeless and empty and 90% of this movie is based in Gray from the kitchen to the kingdom to the tower going up the tower to asha's home even though watercolor is more washed out than something like oil painting it doesn't mean gray and actually there is a lot of watercolor that is quite vibrant and since this is animation you can stylize a watercolor effect by keeping the texture and amping up the color like they did in spiderverse but guess what tangled also had this exact problem in the concept stage Tangled's design was originally inspired by Branch paintings which are very dark and very moody and almost colorless then new directors came on board and they were like this is depressing and they changed it instead they leaned towards a style like fragonard's the swing painting and this is quite literally because this looks so much more Charming than this and this looks so much more Disney than this as a result the colors of Tangled are vibrant and sunny I guarantee you that you feel stronger emotions looking at something like this than you you do with this lighting also plays a huge effect on mood and visual appeal it can make a scene look delightful or dreadful for good lighting you typically want a range of values so areas that are really light areas that are dark and areas that are mid-tone this is what gives an image Dimension wish has a very flat lighting which basically means no variety of light and dark tones I guess this is because they were trying to make it look 2D but because it is actually in 3D no lighting makes everything blend together and makes the space feel empty in the art book they do mention that this is sometimes intentional to represent the theme of status quo but almost every scene looks like this except when magic is used and I doubt they meant this to happen that much entangled the lighting is incredibly thoughtful because Rapunzel has a magic hair from the Sun she is consistently bathed in warm lights in her Tower in the snugly duckling in the Kingdom with the lanterns and the way the sunlight streams in with these beautiful rays of sunshine coming through the window or the trees is so beautiful and completely matches her bright personality but there are also moments of Darkness for example when Rapunzel is experiencing doubt even these dark scenes are so well lit because there's a range of values there's dark tones and light tones darkness is also so important to demonstrate evil it's what makes this feel Sinister and this feel kind of bad I guess since this movie is about wishing on stars and it's not about the sun I think it would have been so beautiful to have really used Moonlight and starlight to light Asha I think this is especially crazy because Disney also produced a shorts called paper man which is really cute I highly recommend going to watch it and it uses a similar waterc colorish style and even though this film has essentially no color it's still visually captivating because of its use of lighting and motion and probably also because this actually has a heartwarming story on that note about motion and story I want to talk about the visuals during the musical numbers unfortunately wish has a very strong case of the story is so weak that even the visuals can't help it for example this wish is asha's I want song This scene is where we should feel her desire just as much as she does at the end when she makes her wish and the camera pans around her and zooms out as the music swells you might think that this looked okay but I am going to ruin it for you because it's actually quite underwhelming asha's whip is so vague she just says she wants something more than this but what is this in fact everyone in this Kingdom seems pretty happy so when she motions around to this it feels empty the surrounding visual doesn't help tell the story at all but there is almost this exact shot entangled but it's more effective because Rapunzel wants to explore the world outside her Tower this shot sells the idea of the new world she is experiencing experiencing you can take any iwan song and you will see how the visual emphasizes the character's desire these iconic visuals enforce the charm of their respective stories it isn't the same to just circle a camera around to match the music and force an epic moment you might have felt something during this song but I guarantee you this visual will be forgettable because it's empty this is an example of a writing problem that bleeds into the final animation musical moments are also the best places to defy real it they try to do this with you're a star with talking animals and then Shadow play in the revolution song but this still isn't that interesting or creative this is also a case where the songs weigh down the visuals even though these scenes are finally more colorful I wasn't invested because the music isn't great if you think of something like mother knows best where the entire room goes dark and Gothel disappears into a mannequin and whirls up the stairs those visuals add style to this song and the visuals and song work together so well because the song is also very good Tangles and wish also have very similar environments for example medieval kingdoms set on islands and actually both of these kingdoms were inspired by the chunkiness of Pinocchio however I think only one of them gets that design style right I think what really gets me about rosess which is the kingdom for wish is that it is supposed to be said in the Mediterranean but the imagery is so subtle that I didn't even pick up on this when I watched watched the movie for the first time it's just a lot of gray Limestone there's some teal and a couple of canopy stalls and again it's such a shame because the concept art is really quite beautiful and I can definitely see Spanish elements like the Arches and mosaics but the final version is so washed out that those details I didn't even notice if you compare it to something like Tangled you don't even have to look very hard instantly you think that this is so Charming it's such a quaint Village and then there's so much going on there's flowers and Banners and Bakers and musicians and kids in designing this Village the directors really wanted to prioritize making interesting spaces to give a sense of life and things to explore and I think they nailed that so well it's quite ironic because the art book for Tangled mentions quote creating fantasy worlds that the audience believes could exist and would want to visit on vacation rosis is supposed to be a city with a huge draw for people but I would much rather visit a City like Corona both of these kingdoms also have unique insignias roses has the rose and Corona has the sun this Rose is actually a really cool geometric design I quite like it but again I did not notice it I think the only time I really recognized this Rose was in the beginning cuz it was on a story book but if this is supposed to be a recurring Motif it should stick in my mind somewhat whereas entangled these suns are everywhere and this motif also has life it has a point this is how Rapunzel realizes that she's the Lost Princess so it isn't just a nostalgic call back to Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty which is exactly what this Rose is and this is one of the first of many forced callbacks that we're going to see in the visuals of this movie and it's another example of how a lack of story and intention makes a simple visual feels so much more meaningless like did you remember that rosis was defined by a rose I'm very curious please let me know if you did both Tangled and wish also have forests which are nods to classic fairy tales Asha lives in a forest Cottage that references Snow White and again this is a recurring theme in this video but the concept art for these Cottages are so cute these are actually really Charming but thinking back on this movie and I just watched this movie a couple days ago I really can't tell you what asha's Cottage looks like unlike I can remember distinctly what Rapunzel's tower looks like also did you ever think it was odd that Asha lives outside of the Kingdom well that's actually because this was originally a place for people to hide from magnifico to avoid losing their bues and then they repurposed it when the story changed and let me just say repurposing elements of a story or Design Elements that's not a bad thing at all it's often very resourceful but when I was reading this art book it felt like changes happened like this not because it was the best decision for the story but because they really didn't know what story they were were trying to tell since this forest was not supposed to be right next to the kingdom it was supposed to be in a mountain or something it has a plants and trees that belong to higher elevations and colder climates you'll notice there are palm trees and succulents in the kingdom and like ferns in the forest a lot of research went into the vegetation of this Forest I believe it was referenced from a Spanish rainforest and it must have been so annoying to have the location changed and then all of your research just doesn't make any sense anymore this Forest is also inspired by the forest and Sleeping Beauty but it's such a shame that this Forest is so dark because I'm sure there is so much more detail to see but I just can't see it tangled Forest is so cute and this I'm not even kidding you this design was literally designed around the word Charming to enforce charm there are no straight lines in this Forest everything is curved and the trees have personality and attitude that's literally what it says in the book The Mood also shifts depending on the action with the forest so there's a lot of differences in the contrast and the lighting depending on the scene but the directors Nathan and Byron who are I think so incredibly talented specifically stated to the animators to never get too Moody because you have to keep the charm and these men just knew what they were doing because they are absolutely right Tangled and wish also both have Towers there's magnifico's strong Stone Tower versus Rapunzel's feminine quaint one and I actually don't mind the external design of magnifico's tower but I do have some thoughts about the inside like I mentioned how the forest was influenced by Sleeping Beauty this whole movie was actually very influenced by Sleeping Beauty it's actually why the aspect ratio is so wide and in this study you can really see a lot of similar Symmetry and horizontal lines that you would have seen in the Sleeping Beauty animation and I actually think some of the best Creative Images in this movie are in this study like when magnifico Embraces forbidden magic and the mirrors at the end of the thanks I get but these mirrors I have such a LoveHate relationship with them because I do like that they reflect magnifico's narcissism but I also didn't know he was supposed to be narcissistic until he calls it out in a song and in addition to that these are just another call back to the magic mirror from Snow Whites there are also mirrors entangled but they reflect self-discovery and vanity and it's also a little bit more meaningful because the mirror bricks at the end when mother gothal is destroyed and her beauty vanishes but the real kicker about this study is that apparently magnifico didn't build this Castle even though they say in the movie so many times that he founded this Kingdom they built a kingdom like no other but apparently the castle was already here when he got to the island they built a kingdom like no other and apparently he found this secret layer while he was doing Renovations I kid you not and if that seems odd to you it is because this secret layer was actually a last minute Edition and I can almost guarantee you that it was because they just wanted another call back in the art book they also say magnifico is a control freak who becomes disorganized with time but there are messy stacks of books and papers in the beginning so I don't know how consistent they were with that idea whereas Rapunzel's tower is much more consistent with her personality it makes sense that there are pain paintings everywhere because she has so much time on her hands this Tower is so cute like I don't even think I have to explain why it's Charming it does make sense for magnifico's Tower to be less Charming since he's a villain but he is supposed to be a Charming villain and I think the inside of this Tower could have reflected that better so what about some of the character design I want to focus on the main characters Asha versus Rapunzel Asha was inspired by young woman of Revolution and change and I don't mind her character design I actually really love her box braak which this is apparently a very accurate style to Northern African women and what they would have worn during the medieval times so I love that but I really don't love her dress I think her dress is so plain and I think for someone who is so driven and passionate for change should have had a more energizing or unique outfit there's actually a really cute character design for Asha that had a yellow and red dress and I honestly really love that version I wish they went with something like that they do say in the art book that purple has a symbolic meaning of Hope and transformation which I guess makes sense but it's such a gray out subdued color of purple whereas in contrast Rapunzel's purple is a lot more livelier and purple also makes sense for her cuz it's a royal color and she's the Lost Princess there is also such a difference in the movement of these characters Rapunzel is very expressive and she has a distinct style of moving she's very bouncy and energetic Asha in comparison none of her movements stick out to me as unique she feels almost like a stock character which is such a shame for a main heroine the one character I thought that had a really great movement personality was the star I definitely a sucker when it comes to cute characters and I know that this thing looks like it was made to be a stuffed animal but whatever I think it still looks really cute the star at least had personality it was childlike and distracted and something I really appreciated was that the star is a mask like the little heart thing around the face this is actually a reference to Mickey Mouse's mask and I think a reference like that is so much better than the blatant references throughout this movie Asha and Rapunzel also have very similar goals asha's is the glowing wishes and Rapunzels is the glowing lanterns the thing I want to note here is that even these magical all important wishes are just subtle blue orbs and I don't feel the life that as talks about when she sees them for the first time there should be something that visually conveys how Splendid these are and Asha shouldn't have to tell us that they are quote everything entangled these lanterns aren't even magical but this is absolutely a magical moment seeing just one Lantern is so powerful because it ties back to a clear story connecting us to Rapunzel's desire this is what she's been working for the whole movie there was so much buildup to it and maybe there should have been some buildup to the wishes that Asha sees this is also so romantic I would give anything to do this and specifically to do this with him I love Flyn Rider and I want to be Rapunzel just so that I can be with Flyn Rider however the actual magic I think this is the one thing that is consistently done well in this movie I really liked this smoke effect I thought that was really interesting I loved this pink ribbon when that woman's wish was granted and this was actually a hand effect I also loved the green magic Vines at the end and these green Flames were a reference to Hellfire and UL as smok hands and Maleficent and while I think that all of those references are a little chaotic I don't mind them as much as the blatant obvious ones when the wishes fall down I think that was pretty I will say though that Rapunzel's Golden Hair feels so much more powerful because there's more emotional weights behind the times she uses it there is hope when she saves her and Flynn in the cave there is Eli when she saves Flynn which can I just say this is like the cutest Disney kiss the way he hugs her is so cute like I want to be her and again this is another great example of the visuals are so strong because they're so strongly intertwined with the story there are also a lot of visual gags in this movie and I do not think the humor in this movie works this chicken scene physically pained me I did not like it the visual humor in the Tangled is so good it's not wacky or loud the visual gags are very subtle it just Vibes with my humor very well this movie even has a meme like that's how good these visuals are these two movies they celebrate Disney Legacy but they celebrate it in very different ways the makers of Tangled asked how can we subtly show our appreciation for the essence of Disney the makers of wish asked how many callbacks of nostalgia can we jam into this movie there are so many in yourf face references in which it's honestly very distracting there is one quote in the wish art book that mentions sincerity but there is a whole page dedicated to this word in the Tangled art book and I cannot tell you how obvious it is how Nathan and Byron the directors of Tangled love Disney and understand charm it is so clear here they constantly talk about respecting a legacy how they love Disney history and how they prioritized sincerity and that they didn't want this movie to feel like a parody their references to the Disney Legacy are subtle but in my opinion so respectful you can just tell there's a lot of planning in every single shot and to me one of the best examples of how strong these visuals are is the reunion at the end the mom and dad don't even speak to Rapunzel but there is so much power and emotion even without that and that to me is true charm and just so you know both of these movies suffered significant story changes and as we've seen this can affect the final product a lot because wish is a 100th year anniversary movie it had to come out in 2023 and I genuinely think that that is why the story and the final animation is so weak because rescheduling a release would be impossible on like wish a Rapunzel story was in production at several points in Disney history starting as far back as the 1930s Tangled also had tight deadlines and very hurried decision-making too but the point is there was room for this story to breathe and grow into something that made sense and ideas were abandoned when they didn't work wishes story and visuals don't work yet they couldn't abandon them to meet the deadline I just want to give Nathan and Byron the directors of Tangled a moment of respect because they did such a good job and at least the money they lost at the box office was an investment for future animations which also look gorgeous when I say I love Tangled I mean it and when I say I am Rapunzel I mean it I have probably watched this movie a hundred times and this video only scratches like 10% of the surface of why it is a perfect movie one day I will make an in-depth video going through everything from the music to more of the visuals to the characters to the romance Flynn Ryder if you also think that Tangled is one of the greatest movies ever made please let me know if you think the opposite I don't even want to hear it I will block you if you wish on a star tonight maybe wish for Nathan and Byron to come back and direct another princess movie I'm going to wish that I forget about this movie ever existing I hope you have a good night I would not recommend watching wish if you haven't already and as always thank you so much for watching oh [Music]

Channel: art at midnight

Views: 1,239,028

Keywords: art at midnight, video essay, film analysis, movie review

Id: Qj-qaF83fso

Length: 26min 37sec (1597 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2024