Why People Are Calling Wish’s King Magnifico Disney’s First True Villain In Years

King Magnifico is played by Chris Pine, and he has, perhaps refreshingly, no redeeming qualities beyond his zaddy-like good looks. He founded a kingdom in the Mediterranean called Rosas, and he has learned enough sorcery to grant wishes. He doesn’t grant wishes, however, but hoards them. Proclaiming it to be a favor to his constituents, Magnifico can reach into people’s hearts and remove their most profound ambitions. He keeps those ambitions in magical spheres which he has been locking away in his study for many years. Those with their ambitions — their wishes — removed, become grey-eyed, depressed, and destitute. Rosas’ citizens, however, still celebrate Magnifico as a grand, benevolent ruler, and they still hold annual festivals in his honor. 

Magnifico says that his wish-hoarding has something to do with keeping his kingdom safe. He wants to amass power to avoid a repeat of a vaguely defined event from his past. At some point, however, the need to protect people fell away, and the need to acquire more and more power became his primary motivation. He even has come into possession of a dark book of forbidden magic that he will, naturally, open and use before the film’s conclusion. Magnifico is also revealed to be vain, amoral, and kind of a sociopath. 

Audiences can likely see how wicked Magnifico is right off the bad. Stealing and hoarding wishes at the expense of his people? That seems dodgy. The makers of “Wish” give no thought to redeeming Magnifico, nor to giving him a sympathetic and understandable backstory. He’s a manipulative king who has convinced his subjects that his austerity measures are good for them. Power has gone to his head. And, “Wish” argues, there’s no coming back from that.