Wish (5 Stars)

I don't usually read reviews before I go to the cinema. I only make an exception when it's a film that I'm going to watch with my grandson Oliver. I want to have an idea whether he'll enjoy it.

When reading about "Wish" it was discussed in the same breath as "The Marvels". "Yet another Disney box office failure". The reviews were mostly negative, but the trailers looked so splendid that I had to take Oliver to the cinema. My question is, how have the critics got it so wrong? It's a film that has all the magic of the old Disney films made in the 1960's and earlier. It's a perfect film for children and adults. I watched it dubbed into German, even the songs, but I want to watch it in English as soon as possible.

King Magnifico has studied magic and is able to grant wishes. All of his subjects hand over their wishes to him, and he seals them in magic bubbles until he has a chance to grant them. Once a year there's a festival, at which he picks one of the wishes and grants it.

I think you can already see what the problem is. The king has thousands of subjects, so one wish per year isn't enough. A young girl called Asha who works for the king challenges him, and she falls into disfavour. She makes a wish, and a star falls from the sky and promises to help her. Indirectly. The star doesn't do magic, but it gives Asha the power to do magic.

The king sees Asha as a threat, and his true nature is revealed.

The songs are beautiful (even in German), the animation is beautiful, and the story is spellbinding. It's not a film that deserves to be a box office failure, whatever the critics say. Please go and see it while it's still in the cinemas.

On another matter, my local cinema has started to show films in Ukrainian. I find that wonderful. "Wish" is the first of two films.