Somehow it makes perfect sense for Chris Pine to play a charming Disney villain, seeing as how his look and general vibe is a charming Disney prince come to life. His character in the House of Mouse’s new animated movie Wish (premiering November 22) plays with Pine’s likable image, not unlike his character in Into The Woods: gorgeous but selfish, hiding a serious narcissistic streak under a good-guy exterior. Those are all promising ingredients for a classic villain song. So how did they do?
You can judge for yourself now that the studio has released “This Is The Thanks I Get?” which is all about how Pine’s character, King Magnifico, is really, well, magnificent, and everyone should pay him the proper respect. The song was penned by pop star Julia Michaels and Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Benjamin Rice. “We’d provide a rough version of the script [to Julia and Ben] and they’d go away for a while and come back with a song. Their songs inspired us,” director Fawn Veerasunthorn said in a Disney press release. “For ‘This Is The Thanks I Get?!’ we knew we wanted Magnifico to be charming and, of course, evil. He’s also funny! In the song, he cracks jokes—he’s narcissistic. But it’s all tongue-in-cheek and he’s still somehow completely likable, which is great for a villain.”
Co-director Chris Buck added, “We just had a blast with it. The visuals are terrific—he’s the King and he feels like nobody respects him. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good villain song, so Julia and Ben just went for it.”
Is it a good villain song? Disney is touting this one as “following in the footsteps of classic villain songs” like Little Mermaid’s “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and The Lion King’s “Be Prepared,” which are genuine showstoppers that threaten to overshadow the rest of their respective soundtracks. The studio’s track record for villain songs is not limited to golden-age nostalgia, either; “Mother Knows Best” from Tangled was a worthy entry to the pantheon. But “This Is The Thanks I Get” sounds more like an inoffensive pop song than a Broadway barn burner.
Watching Chris Pine perform it in the behind-the-scenes clip is nevertheless enjoyable—and if this earworm sticks with you, you can now stream it on Spotify.