I will say I love it when animated movies keep the same style as their comic or illustrated sources; I think it makes the transition more cohesive and keeps the identity of the story in check. But I suppose attitudes in 2006 were different, and the style in the movies is unique.
From woodland creatures to flying carpets, the heroes and heroines in some of our favorite fairytales always seem to get the help they need. One of the strongest forces working for them? Fairy godmothers and fairy godparents. They come in all shapes, sizes, genders, and have all sorts of different moral codes, but one thing remains true, some iconic fairy godparents grace our screens.
Imaobong Ifum (Ima) is a Features and Resources writer for Collider. She's been freelancing for a little over 6 years. In her words, "It's been nothing short of an adventure."
Along the way, she has attempted to put down roots, working for a UK-based B2b content repurposing company, Content 10X, and even had a brief stint in the corporate world with Exxon Mobil. With a background BA in Journalism and M.Litt in Ancient Cultures, she finds that entertainment writing is definitely where her heart is.
Her taste in movies and TV shows is pretty widespread, but she definitely has a soft spot for long-running shows like Seinfeld, Friends, and The Big Bang Theory. Throw in a couple of horror flicks and you've pretty much gotten her figured out.
Ima's passion for content creation can only rival her love for a good TV show on a lazy day. Then there's food...
Rather than becoming King Magnifico's apprentice as she had initially hoped, the ending of Wish saw Asha become the fairy godmother of Rosas, tasked with making everyone's dreams come true. This was a fitting end for the film celebrating Disney's 100th anniversary since fairy godmothers and wishing on stars are the foundation of the studio's magic. Though there is no indication in Wish that Asha's duties would extend beyond her kingdom, some hints throughout the film have led many to believe that she is not just a fairy godmother but the fairy godmother.
The heroine of Disney's Wish does not resemble the fairy godmother seen in Cinderella, but other hints throughout the film could indicate that they are the same person. The first clue is Asha's outfit during the latter part of the movie. There's no question that the cloak resembles the one Ms. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo wore when turning Cinderella into the Belle of the Ball. Asha's may not have the long sleeves, but the hood, pockets, and purple bow are dead-on, and that's only the beginning of Asha's connections to this classic Disney character.
Asha's first magic wand in Wish was a tree branch that her little star friend had enchanted, and it took several tries before she figured out how to make the thing work. In an effort to produce some magic, Asha began banging the wand against her palm, precisely as the fairy godmother did in Cinderella. Then, to draw the two characters closer together, the end of Wish saw Star turn the stick into a proper magic wand, precisely the same as the iconic silvery tool that gave Cinderella her gown and glass slippers. This is certainly a lot of evidence that Wish is a sort of Disney origin story, but this theory still has several problems.
Asha's similarities with Cinderella's fairy godmother aren't the only indication that Wish connects with the universes of the Disney movies. The film has a record number of Easter eggs from other Disney projects. One of the citizens of Rosas wished to be a great dressmaker, and the gown featured within the orb possessed by King Magnifico was the same one Aurora wore in Sleeping Beauty. Though Asha's seven friends didn't resemble the quirky miners from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, they distinctly had the personalities of those like Grumpy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, and the rest. Then, there is Magnifico, who seems to become the Evil Queen's magic mirror at the end of Wish.
Though these parallels are certainly overt, it's difficult to draw connections between the plot of Wish and those of other Disney movies. Asha may be a fairy godmother with the same wand and cloak as Cinderella's magical guardian, but it's implied in Wish that she only serves the people of Rosas. Aurora's dress in Sleeping Beauty was created by her own three fairy godmothers, not a dressmaker from Rosas. Asha's friends, who all range in gender, age, and appearance, couldn't possibly someday end up being Snow White's dwarf friends. Ultimately, it seems far more likely that Wish is paying homage to Disney's classic characters and features, not establishing a prequel for a Disney universe.
Wish is far from the first movie to inspire the Disney shared universe theory. The studio is known for incorporating features of past films in their new titles, regardless of whether they make sense with the plot. Flynn Rider and Rapunzel from Tangled are seen at Elsa's coronation in Frozen, Toy Story's Pizza Planet truck is seen in virtually all Pixar movies, a figure of the Beast from Beauty and the Beasts is seen in the Sultan's castle in Aladdin, and the pelt of The Lion King's Scar is seen as a garment in Hercules. The result of all these Easter eggs has been the idea that these Disney characters all exist within the same universe, but the studio already disproved this theory, and reiterated this after Wish.
When asked about Wish and the hints about a Disney shared universe, the studio's chief creative officer Jennifer Lee said (via GamesRadar+) that while they love to play around with Easter eggs, it doesn't mean that these characters really exist within any sort of shared world or multiverse. Instead, the features of different Disney animated movies are seen in other projects to remind audiences what they share. Audiences of films like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Frozen may have nothing else in common but, as Lee put it, the Easter eggs allow them to "celebrate the multiverse of [them] actually carrying these memories."
When considering Lee's sentiment that the Easter eggs in Disney movies are not meant to connect the worlds of each film but their various audiences, it makes sense that Wish would contain far more than movies past. Asha's story is the 100-year celebration of Disney Studios, so the various references to the dozens of films that have touched fans' hearts over the last century are meant to bring audiences of all ages back together. Of course, there is a lot about Wish that didn't work, as reflected by the film's disappointing box office performance.
The Fairy Godmother, portrayed by Catherine Lough Haggquist, makes a small appearance in the fourth episode of the ABC series Once Upon a Time. In addition to being the proposed godmother to Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother is also patron to King George's kingdom and when Prince James dies, George makes a deal for James' twin with Rumplestiltskin for the whereabouts of the Fairy Godmother. As Cinderella is sadly sweeping on the night of Prince Thomas' ball when she is approached by her Fairy Godmother, who prepares to send her there. To try and prove to Cinderella that she has the power to, the Fairy Godmother reveals her incredibly powerful magic wand and is just about to transform the girl, when she erupts into a shower of fairy dust. Rumplestiltskin emerges from the shadows and takes the wand, which he uses to send Cinderella off to the ball instead.
As for her immediate concerns, they do not revolve around becoming the next Emma Thompson. Last week Tyler became a godmother to Ella Rose Richards, granddaughter of Keith, whom she knows through her family. And after months working in California. she is eager to spend some down time "with myself" in New York City. "I can't wait for someone to honk at me and tell me to f--- off," she says, "to be just one out of a million." Fat chance.
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