History Headscratchers / Wish2023

** It's evident that neither Magnifico nor the Star have Genie-like powers or the movie would be far different. Magnifico only grants wishes that his magic is able to do, which is why the wishes he grants are more mundane compared to other, more fantastical wishes in his room. The Star's magic is powerful, but it makes it clear that it cannot grant wishes, only help people achieve wishes. And forbidden magic is explicitly stated to take hold of a person who dabbles into it for all eternity. This all but spells out that Magnifico is BeyondRedemption for there is no known means to break the corrupt magic's hold on him.

*** If that's the case, how does Asha and the other citizens wishing on their star-selves work instantly to banish Magnifico?

* What exactly was Magnifico going to ''do'' once everyone in Rosas was all magically under his heel and unable to oppose him? What was his ulterior motive in enslaving everyone and ensuring they'd all hate him whether they could do anything about it or not when before Asha caused trouble people were happy under his rule and he loved it? It's hard to imagine he'd be happier with brainwashed slaves.

*** He is only shown erasing memories when he takes a person's wish, which may be essentially an automatic part of the process of taking a wish to grant it in future; there is nothing to indicate that he can do the equivalent of a Memory Charm (''Franchise/HarryPotter'') whenever he feels like it.

** The premise is ultimately similar to ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' or the "Luthor Lottery" in ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin'' (once a week Lex Luthor invites people to gather outside his company so that he can grant the "wish" of one citizen in Metropolis). While the Games are more potentially lethal, ultimately all three situations see people essentially choose not to fight to change a system that leaves them dependent on others because they've been convinced to accept the ''chance'' that the system will benefit them ''some day'', rather than rebel and lose the opportunity to get their wish their own way until someone else steps up.

*** It can't be scrying/clairvoyance involved, since if he had that power, he wouldn't have had to wait for Simon to tell him that Asha was responsible for Star appearing. For that matter, Magnifico wasn't clever enough to figure out from the beginning that it ''had'' to be Asha because nobody else knew his true nature at that point and thus had no reason to challenge his rule.
** Distracting Magnifico in order to sneak into his tower is the same plan Asha used the ''first'' time, and Magnifico knows she is working with Dahlia and the others. When Amaya comes in and makes a big deal about him rounding up all the villagers to chase Asha, he realized it was a ruse.

* What exactly was Magnifico going to ''do'' once everyone in Rosas was all magically under his heel and unable to oppose him? What was his ulterior motive in enslaving everyone and ensuring they'd all hate him whether they could do anything about it or not, when before Asha caused trouble people were happy under his rule and he loved it? It's hard to imagine he'd be happier with brainwashed slaves.

* What is up with the line "Watch out world, here I are"? This is grammatically incorrect, and it is surprising that it appeared in a major Disney movie. Isn't it supposed to be "Here '''we''' are" or "Here I '''am'''"? Was this error made on purpose or was it a mistake that was never fixed?

** I mean, it's hardly unheard of to have questionable grammar for the sake of a rhyme. For example, Elphaba sings "With you and I defying gravity" in Defying Gravity. That said, it looks more like the trend of varying the pronouns in a line based on who's singing, like how the Phantom of Opera includes the line "[My/your] spirit and [your/my] voice", with Christine and the Phantom singing in unison, but with different pronouns. And, well, it definitely stands out here, because they used the one verb in the English language with different conjugated forms for "I" and "you" for sake of a rhyme.

* How did Magnifico not know from the beginning that Asha was the traitor? He had a suspect list of 1. For that matter, why did he think a human was responsible for the phenomenon anyway? And why did he think it was a threat? Just because he didn't do it? He must know he's not the only one on the planet with magic -- he didn't write all those books.
** This probably isn't the kind of universe where magical phenomena happen without some kind of deliberate reason. Either the mysterious light was caused by a human practicing magic or it ''was'' some unexplained event -- in either case, as someone who's already lost his homeland, Magnifico is going to want to understand this person/event so he knows whether they're a threat to Rosas. As for why he didn't suspect Asha, she's probably not the first person who's ever managed to get on his bad side, and he likely didn't figure a teenager would be able to call upon such an unheard-of kind of magic.

* How did Magnifico not know from the beginning that Asha was the traitor? He had a suspect list of 1.

** Disney usually strikes a balance between wishes being granted by magic and having to work to achieve them yourself. See ''Pinocchio'' and ''The Princess and the Frog'' for other instances of this. It usually isn't just one way or the other, and with Magnifico holding everyone's wishes hostage so they can't make them happen on their own, it makes some sense to have some supernatural help in order to level the playing field, so to speak.

** It was probably done on purpose, in a questionable attempt to convey the themes of quirkiness and individuality.