"A Simple Wish" is a family-friendly comedy about a young girl, Annabel (Mara Wilson,) who wishes for a Fairy Godmother to help her father, Oliver (Robert Pastroelli,) a New York City Carriage driver, win the lead role in a broadway musical "The Tales of Two Cities." Robert is wonderful in the movie for the little time he is on screen before he becomes a bronze statue in Central Park. How does this happen? Martin Short plays an incompetent Male Fairy Godmother named Murray, who answers Annabel's wish, and acts like a bumbling idiot attempting to make kids laugh, including causing the statue debacle, and none of it is funny.
Annabel tries to convince her brother, Charlie (Francis Capra,) fairy godmothers exist, but he is a dismissive jerk to his sister until the plot needs him to save the day. Capra was the kid from last year's horrid "Kazaam." the movie about Shaq as a rapping genie. If you don't remember, that's a good thing, but Capra plays the same character in this movie, right down to the same clothes, and he has a few scenes, but none of it matters.
Murray is treated with overlook because he is a male in a female-dominated world, and the film lays subtle hints at this but never fully embraces the concept because it's too busy with Murray spewing cheesy magic everything. When Murray casts a spell, he waves his arms around like an idiot, and kids won't find this funny. When he crashes into a wall or becomes flat as a pancake due to his stupidity, they might, but I doubt it because Short can't keep the role together for three-quarters of the movie. Only towards the end does the character have some seriousness, but it's beyond the point.
Murray leaves his wand behind when he appears behind a closet door in Annabel's bedroom because her wish has come true and, she attempts to get it back to him, but not before her brother breaks it, and she fuses it back together with popsicle sticks. What kid wouldn't? Annabel asks Murray to grant her a wish, and the broken wand winds them up in Nebraska when he tries to cast a travel spell. To fix the statue ordeal, he has to ask the head of the Fairy Godmother Association, Hortence (Ruby Dee,) for help.
Is Murray a Fairy Godmother? The movie can't make up its mind because he seems to have no idea what he is doing, and given the shenanigans at the beginning of the movie, it would make sense, but that aspect is gone near the end because he seems to have no problem with magic, and it feels contrived.
Annabel must break Murray's spell by midnight, or Oliver will be a statue forever, and the film villain arrives on cue. Claudia (Kathleen Turner) in a thankless role, and her assistant Boots (Amanda Plummer) crawling on the floor and acting like a dog. Claudia is trying to acquire every wand. She is a witch or something, who was cast out of the organization, not because she is evil, but because she is an idiot with a narrow-minded plot device whose subplot is out-of-place.
What I can't wrap my head around is that the film doesn't focus on the plot, which is the Broadway play Annabel wants her dad to be a part of. "A Simple Wish" is a kid's movie on autopilot, and you can figure out the ending because we need that happy one. It's the contrived nature of the film, that feels like nobody cared, and was thrown together for a few dollars with Short being a moron throughout, It's a shame when the lead role is Mara Wilson, and she is adorable but let down by a cheesy magic, bad VFX-infused movie that kids won't remember the next day.
2/10.
Annabel tries to convince her brother, Charlie (Francis Capra,) fairy godmothers exist, but he is a dismissive jerk to his sister until the plot needs him to save the day. Capra was the kid from last year's horrid "Kazaam." the movie about Shaq as a rapping genie. If you don't remember, that's a good thing, but Capra plays the same character in this movie, right down to the same clothes, and he has a few scenes, but none of it matters.
Murray is treated with overlook because he is a male in a female-dominated world, and the film lays subtle hints at this but never fully embraces the concept because it's too busy with Murray spewing cheesy magic everything. When Murray casts a spell, he waves his arms around like an idiot, and kids won't find this funny. When he crashes into a wall or becomes flat as a pancake due to his stupidity, they might, but I doubt it because Short can't keep the role together for three-quarters of the movie. Only towards the end does the character have some seriousness, but it's beyond the point.
Murray leaves his wand behind when he appears behind a closet door in Annabel's bedroom because her wish has come true and, she attempts to get it back to him, but not before her brother breaks it, and she fuses it back together with popsicle sticks. What kid wouldn't? Annabel asks Murray to grant her a wish, and the broken wand winds them up in Nebraska when he tries to cast a travel spell. To fix the statue ordeal, he has to ask the head of the Fairy Godmother Association, Hortence (Ruby Dee,) for help.
Is Murray a Fairy Godmother? The movie can't make up its mind because he seems to have no idea what he is doing, and given the shenanigans at the beginning of the movie, it would make sense, but that aspect is gone near the end because he seems to have no problem with magic, and it feels contrived.
Annabel must break Murray's spell by midnight, or Oliver will be a statue forever, and the film villain arrives on cue. Claudia (Kathleen Turner) in a thankless role, and her assistant Boots (Amanda Plummer) crawling on the floor and acting like a dog. Claudia is trying to acquire every wand. She is a witch or something, who was cast out of the organization, not because she is evil, but because she is an idiot with a narrow-minded plot device whose subplot is out-of-place.
What I can't wrap my head around is that the film doesn't focus on the plot, which is the Broadway play Annabel wants her dad to be a part of. "A Simple Wish" is a kid's movie on autopilot, and you can figure out the ending because we need that happy one. It's the contrived nature of the film, that feels like nobody cared, and was thrown together for a few dollars with Short being a moron throughout, It's a shame when the lead role is Mara Wilson, and she is adorable but let down by a cheesy magic, bad VFX-infused movie that kids won't remember the next day.
2/10.