MovieChat Forums > Wish Dragon (2021) Discussion > Not bad.

Not bad.

posted 3 years ago by Ghaleon (606)
1 reply | jump to latest

Pretty solid for a non-Disney/Pixar animated movie, and some of the visual humour was fairly amusing.

It has a lot in common with 'Aladdin' (1992), but differentiates itself in enough ways that I wouldn't consider it an absolute ripoff. I've never read the original 'Arabian Nights' or 'Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves', or whatever Disney's 'Aladdin' is based off of, so I can't say whether the similar elements are derived from that text or Disney.

John Cho gave a great performance, maybe not as energetic as Robin Williams, but that wouldn't have suited the character in this.

There were no gaping plot holes that stuck out to me, but I've probably overlooked something. The cartoonish style helps with suspension of disbelief in any case.

I'm far from being a wokescold, but there were some stereotypical characters that I could see some people with that mindset getting offended on other people's behalf over.
I wasn't bothered, as it would be unreasonable to expect deep, nuanced supporting characters in a 90 minute family movie.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, but I'll watch almost anything that prominently features dragons.

[–] VectorOfTheMoon (167) a year ago

I watched it last night since I've never even heard of it.

It was a decent movie with good animation. Some parts did feel way too similar to Aladdin, but it's still able to hold its own in a lot of ways. I like they gave the dragon more depth and a tragic backstory. Overall, the movie isn't exactly something that blew me away, but it's pretty fun and well done.

Speaking of which, the father was such a tragic character. Imagine being in such a desperate financial situation that you hire a bunch of thugs to do your work for you just to make ends meet.

And then, the lead thug just kills the Father off anyway (I know the father was brought back to life, but still...).

It really shows the lengths people will go when they're feeling desperate in their finances, and you have to be careful about the crazy and dangerous people you get mixed up with. The dad learned a really hard lesson.