Overall Thoughts: Sweet, heartfelt rags-over-riches tale avoids being too overly-familiar.
Looking at the trailer for Wish Dragon, you may be thinking of this as an Eastern rip-off of Aladdin in its plot and tone. A young man discontent with his very simple way of life. Wanting to be with a female of a higher status. A wisecracking magical entity who offers three wishes to turn his life around. And, a villain who only seeks the magic for his own selfish gain. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?
Well, thank goodness this Sony project is more than just a story that takes cues from that Arabian tale. While it does have familiar elements, it avoids falling into some traps. And a lot of that is thanks to a more lightly mature thematic take. Din isn't looking for a princess, he only wishes to reconnect with a lifelong friend. And Li Na isn't a princess seeking a suitor. She's a busy businesswoman-to-be who is stressed and overwhelmed, and could use a change.
Of course, some comedy relief doesn't hurt the proceedings. And John Cho does his job well in spades as the cuddly pink dragon, Long. He brings a little bit of Robin Williams' creativity in terms of humor, while not quite capturing his madcap comic presence (that's a better compliment than you might would think). But, what helps Cho really sell his performance is a nice amount of character development, especially towards the end.
The rest of the voice cast does a nice job too, with Jimmy Wong and Natasha Liu Bordizzo doing solid work as their lead characters. The writing gives them solid amounts of development as well. Constance Wu gets a few hysterical moments as the mother as well. Meanwhile, on the other side of things, the villain of the piece is as predictable as you might would expect. He even has his own Horace and Jasper-level sidekicks (well, at least that's not too much like a parrot voiced by Gilbert Gottfried).
The animation is colorful and crisp, while carrying a few neat touches in a few sequences. The background futuristic Eastern town is nicely done while not being too realistic. Only a few character designs seem a bit out of place. And, the too-involved family gimmick doesn't always hit its' intended humorous target. Also, a handful of moments have oddly-timed mouthing to the dialogue.
The beginning of Wish Dragon does take a bit to get going into its main plot. But once Long is introduced and his "fish out of water" reactions to the modern world takes shape, it starts to hit its' stride. About midway through the second act, the emotional stakes picked up in a solidly-effective way that kept me glued to the screen.
In the end, Wish Dragon is yet another win for Sony Animation as they try to match the success of the Mouse House. While its' a simpler film in scope and tone in comparison to other Sony efforts, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Simpler charms sometimes do the trick.
Grade: B
Is this movie family-friendly? Wish Dragon is rated PG for "mild action and rude humor". That's an accurate rating, as the film has its mildly snarky moments and moments of peril. In a climactic action scene, a couple of characters suffer perilous falls with one nearly dying. A few moments of Eastern mysticism affirm (and lightly mock) a somewhat spiritual worldview. Meanwhile, a gross moment finds Long unknowingly drinking out of a Chinese version of a urinal. Long is seen in his underwear in a few scenes. Long mistakenly smacks a female on the rear with his tail, causing the female to become smitten with him and say, "I don't usually move this fast!" We hear a few uses of "oh my g**" and one "crap", along with some name-calling. Ultimately, this movie is fairly appropriate for ages 5 or 6 and up.
Is this movie family-friendly? Wish Dragon is rated PG for "mild action and rude humor". That's an accurate rating, as the film has its mildly snarky moments and moments of peril. In a climactic action scene, a couple of characters suffer perilous falls with one nearly dying. A few moments of Eastern mysticism affirm (and lightly mock) a somewhat spiritual worldview. Meanwhile, a gross moment finds Long unknowingly drinking out of a Chinese version of a urinal. Long is seen in his underwear in a few scenes. Long mistakenly smacks a female on the rear with his tail, causing the female to become smitten with him and say, "I don't usually move this fast!" We hear a few uses of "oh my g**" and one "crap", along with some name-calling. Ultimately, this movie is fairly appropriate for ages 5 or 6 and up.
