The battle of the Chrises isn’t something that is ever going to be decided. We have our favorites, and that’s that. For me, there has always been my number one Chris (with my number two being very close as second). I’m talking about Chris Pine. He’s my favorite of the Chrises; I love his work very much, and I am fascinated by his ability, as an actor, to bring to life a range of characters that all are unique but so very Chris Pine in their portrayal.
And now, he’s heading to the animated world of Disney. Pine has been in Disney movies previously, namely the 2014 adaptation of Into the Woods as Cinderella’s Prince, as well as playing Dr. Alex Murry in Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time. But this is his first foray into the Disney animated world. (Not his first animated venture, though. We’ll always have the Peter Parker of Miles’ universe in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.)
News broke today, from CinemaCon, that Pine will be voicing King Magnifico in the upcoming film Wish, which also stars Ariana DeBose as Asha and her trusty goat Valentino, played by Alan Tudyk. And from the description of Magnifico? Pine is going to kill it.
“As the most powerful person in the kingdom, King Magnifico needed to be played by someone who could give all the charm, cleverness and charisma to this magnanimous character, and Chris is beautifully bringing all of that and then some,” said Jennifer Lee, who is the executive producer and one of the writers of Wish.
The description of the movie, via the press release, is as follows: Wish introduces Asha, a sharp-witted idealist who makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force—a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star set out to prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.
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I am always trying to get Chris Pine employed, especially if he’s singing. Wish will have music composed by Julia Michaels in it, and while CinemaCon got their first peak at the music (which featured a song from DeBose), I do think that we’ll have Pine singing. Because he is great at it. But I am just genuinely excited that he is now a Disney King, even if they don’t have the best track record.
Do I hope that this opens the door to things like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe knocking at his door? Yes, absolutely, but until then, I have a new Chris Pine animated role coming my way, and my god am I going to make loving King Magnifico, no matter what, my number one priority. Nothing but respect to my king of the Kingdom of Wishes (even if Magnifico is an Italian word, and so I have convinced myself that Chris Pine is an Italian king).
(featured image: Disney)
