There are over 100 Disney references hidden in Wish: Asha and the Lucky Star

The latest Disney is a huge tribute to the history of the studio. Will you manage to find all of his “easter eggs”?

A word in a song, a costume detail, a brief appearance of a character… All ideas are good for inserting a reference to a previous animated film from the Disney universe into Wish: Asha and the lucky star. The studio's latest animated film then takes the form of an immense fresco to the glory of the studio, where almost every shot contains a more or less hidden tribute.

After its mixed reception in theaters, this winter, the animated film is scheduled as part of Canal +'s Friday blockbuster evening. It is also available to subscribers on MyCanal. Which gives the opportunity to peel it…

Wish: Disney Christmas 2023 leaves us wanting more (review)

Coded songs and dialogues

Disney is about songs, but also about dubbing! In a recent interview with First, Dorothée Pousseothe French voice of Margot Robbiesays she was called to self-reference in the dubbing of wish. Responsible for dubbing the character of Eureka in the live-action remake of The little Mermaidwe asked him to come back for a moment to lend his voice to a singing bird, for a little joke.

“In wish, I just wink, I don't even really dub a character. Actually, in one of the songs, I just have one line, and it's a little joke in reference to The little Mermaid, as I voiced the Eureka bird in the live action version. It's thought of a bit like 'Where is Charlie ?'

“The singing director offered me this wink because I had a very complicated rap in The little Mermaid by making the VF ofAwkwafina. Quentin Bachelet, Pierre Bachelet's son, led all the songs in the film, and so at one point there was a bird with a slightly broken voice. He heard that, and he thought of me (laughs). He teased me by saying: 'All your life you want to play princesses, but you inherit the roles of birds.' He called me, it made me laugh, I was available to record it, and there it was”, she says.

Same thing for the dialogues which are coded in certain places. Pay attention, for example, to certain lines from the character Magnifico (Chris Pine in VO, Lambert Wilson in French), which describes in detail certain wishes of its subjects. You would swear you hear the pitch of certain classics from our childhood…

Chic animation, shocking details

Visual winks are part of the basics of concocting a easter egg successful. Whether on the characters' costumes, in the settings or furtively during a shot, the little hidden surprises are legion and will give you a hard time. At the same time, Disney has a hundred years of history to disseminate in a single feature film. Will you find the deadly apple concocted by the Stepmother and bitten by Snow White? Keep your eyes peeled if you want to spot the Mickey Mouse drawing hidden in a scene? And for those who are more observant… is Asha's character's outfit familiar to you?

Even in its manufacturing process, wish integrates the heritage of the studio since Chris Buck And Fawn Veerasunthorn, the two directors, explain that their goal was to create an image reminiscent of a watercolor painting. For this rendering, they were inspired by old techniques from early animated films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs And Pinocchio.

Surprise guests

The height of the reference, the studio has fully assumed its inexhaustible reservoir of cult protagonists by offering appearances of characters from other films. We remember the furtive passage of Rapunzel and Flynn in Snow Queen, but here, Disney has pushed all the knobs to the limit. In a musical sequence involving many forest animals, you will have the pleasure of finding many secondary characters from The Sleeping Beauty And Bambi.

And to vary the cameos, the directors model other characters “originals” based on former protagonists who love to sing along when they get home from work… But being subject to a strict non-disclosure policy, we will therefore list two truths and a lie here. It's up to you to disentangle fact from fiction: the bear Little Jean, Robin Hood's sidekick, lends Asha a helping hand; Aladdin's flying carpet is on display in Magnifico's office; Peter Pan comes to party with the inhabitants of Rosas.

Discover “Wish”, the new star song from the new Disney