Wish Dragon is an animated film produced by Jackie Chan and Sony Animation Pictures, thanks to Netflix it can be watched through a subscription as usual, having already said that it is produced by Jackie Chan, I think it is clear that it´s a chinese film, being honest when I first looked at it I had no expectations, neither bad nor good, the truth is that Wish Dragon didn´t catch my attention at all but still I wanted to give it an opportunity and honestly it was one of the best decisions I have made recently, surprisingly Wish Dragon has been one of my surprises this year, I ended up loving this movie for some reason.
Wish Dragon may sound familiar to you, at least its concept, a genie comes out of his container and has to grant three wishes to his master, and yes, Wish Dragon handles this concept that we have seen many times being adapted, an example would be Aladdin adapted by Disney, the interesting thing about Wish Dragon is that despite being a concept already used, this film manages to give its own touch and charisma so it gives a certain air of freshness.
These types of films that have a recreation of China tend to establish said country as a walking perfection or at least the ones that I watched, something that I liked about Wish Dragon is that it allows us to see a little the less developed side of China where mostly people without too much money live, of course it´s not like that they show extreme poverty or something like that but I am satisfied that they show this side of China. Wish Dragon is not satisfied with showing us the less fortunate neighborhoods in China, it also shows us its more developed side in economic terms, big companies, people with absurd salaries and in general terms a different world from the one lived in the less fortunate neighborhoods.
Wish Dragon doesn´t pretend to romanticize either side and shows the pros and cons of living in one of those worlds, for example, people from less fortunate neighborhoods tend to be more human and give more importance to family and human values, however it´s not that they lead the best possible lifestyle and it´s something that could change over time, on the other hand, people from the other pool, despite living in better conditions and having more comforts, tend to forget about family and human values because they are obsessed with money and keeping their companies afloat, there are good people in both worlds and as I said, generally speaking, the film doesn´t try to romanticize either of them.
Some might say that Wish Dragon is actually a criticism on capitalism and consumerism which makes us lose our humanity but nothing further from reality, the main message that Wish Dragon transmits is that no matter how on top of the world you ared, don´t lose the human values that you have been taught, don´t lose sight of your family or the things that are important in your life, the film also give some other messages about being yourself and that people can change even if that takes a lot of time.
Speaking of the technical section, Wish Dragon looks pretty great, it looks quite competent being an animated film made on computer, it may not reach the production levels of a Disney or Pixar film but it does enough and has certain details that can be noticed like the dragon's fur. The recreation of China is well achieved, this film lets us feel like we are in China, we can also observe some of its gastronomy and the way of life of some people. I have to admit that Wish Dragon falters a bit in the soundtrack since it is not very memorable to say, even right now that I am writing this I don´t remember absolutely anything about the soundtrack, not even a song which is certainly sad , but on the other hand I am glad that the film is not a musical.
Wish Dragon is an emotional and funny animated film with many jokes that are funny and don´t give cringe, it has a competent cast of characters and in general a quite beautiful and fluid animation, Wish Dragon manages to grasp a concept that is widely used today and give it its own essence and charisma, even funnier because Wish Dragon doesn´t hide where it is inspired from and sometimes it drops a reference to Aladdin probably the Disney adaptation, you could even say that there are some things in the plot that are somewhat similar. I think it is recommended and that you should watch it, even if you don't like it, it will make you entertained the whole time, personally I had a lot of fun watching it.
