This movie surprised me. The premise is an evil king gets twarted by a headstrong teenager who wants to make things right for her family and friends. While I loved just about everything, including most of the songs, I am conflicted by who was actually the villain.
Asha is a 17 year old girl who wants to be the king's apprentice. She finds out while meeting with the king that he only grants a portion of the many wishes he has claimed over the decades, two of which belong to her grandfather and mother. She then decides that the king is wrong and she wishes on a star to change things. Now, she already knows that the king created the kingdom decades before she was born, collects these wishes and grants at least 12 of them every year. He protects the rest, but she's upset when she finds out that he will only grant wishes that will benefit the kingdom.
Ignoring the fact that the king is a sorcerer, who uses his magic to grant wishes, just imagine a teenager questionig her king. Think about that for a moment.
The king is beloved by all, including the queen. He has studied magic all his life, and even has a book of black magic that he doesn't touch. It's just there in case he needs it to protect his kingdom. Asha is upset with the king and manages to coax a wishing star from the sky to help her steal the wishes from the king. **Do not read any further if you don't like spoilers**
Fearing he will lose everything, the king consults that forbidden book and gets corrupted from it. Doing so, his queen joins forces with Asha to defeat him. It doesn't really matter what happens after this. Of course the king is defeated, but is he really the villian of this story? Everyone is happy to have their wishes back in the end, but is everything really better? They no longer have a king who protected them and granted at least 12 of their wishes every year. They have a queen who betrayed her own beloved husband, who is now banished to the dungeon. Are they really better off? At least before they had the chance of getting their wish fulfilled by their magical king. Was he perfect? No, he wasn't, but is anyone? So now, instead of possibly having their wish fulfilled (which they all do willingly), they have to work at making their own wishes come true. Not only that, but the wishing star made Asha a fairy godmother, who can now do her own magic. I'm sorry, but that's a bit ridiculous and goes against the whole theme of the story.
We're supposed to love Asha and hate the king. I'm sorry, but I never thought the king was the villain. He was overthrown by a spoiled teenager who only cared about her grandfather's wish and didn't care who it hurt to get it back.
Again, I loved this movie, and I did like Asha. I liked everyone, which makes it very hard to not like the king.
Asha is a 17 year old girl who wants to be the king's apprentice. She finds out while meeting with the king that he only grants a portion of the many wishes he has claimed over the decades, two of which belong to her grandfather and mother. She then decides that the king is wrong and she wishes on a star to change things. Now, she already knows that the king created the kingdom decades before she was born, collects these wishes and grants at least 12 of them every year. He protects the rest, but she's upset when she finds out that he will only grant wishes that will benefit the kingdom.
Ignoring the fact that the king is a sorcerer, who uses his magic to grant wishes, just imagine a teenager questionig her king. Think about that for a moment.
The king is beloved by all, including the queen. He has studied magic all his life, and even has a book of black magic that he doesn't touch. It's just there in case he needs it to protect his kingdom. Asha is upset with the king and manages to coax a wishing star from the sky to help her steal the wishes from the king. **Do not read any further if you don't like spoilers**
Fearing he will lose everything, the king consults that forbidden book and gets corrupted from it. Doing so, his queen joins forces with Asha to defeat him. It doesn't really matter what happens after this. Of course the king is defeated, but is he really the villian of this story? Everyone is happy to have their wishes back in the end, but is everything really better? They no longer have a king who protected them and granted at least 12 of their wishes every year. They have a queen who betrayed her own beloved husband, who is now banished to the dungeon. Are they really better off? At least before they had the chance of getting their wish fulfilled by their magical king. Was he perfect? No, he wasn't, but is anyone? So now, instead of possibly having their wish fulfilled (which they all do willingly), they have to work at making their own wishes come true. Not only that, but the wishing star made Asha a fairy godmother, who can now do her own magic. I'm sorry, but that's a bit ridiculous and goes against the whole theme of the story.
We're supposed to love Asha and hate the king. I'm sorry, but I never thought the king was the villain. He was overthrown by a spoiled teenager who only cared about her grandfather's wish and didn't care who it hurt to get it back.
Again, I loved this movie, and I did like Asha. I liked everyone, which makes it very hard to not like the king.
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Jude
Jude