Wish Dragon

2021

1h 39m

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

1.4K

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8 Videos

82 Images

Animation

Family

Comedy

Fantasy

Determined teen Din is longing to reconnect with his childhood best friend when he meets a wish-granting dragon who shows him the magic of possibilities.

Directors

Chris Appelhans

Writers

Chris Appelhans(writer by)

Radford Sechrist(head of story by)

Josh Lieberman(head of story by)

Stars

Jimmy Wong

John Cho

Constance Wu

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Top cast

Din (voice)

Long (voice)

Mom (voice)

Lina (voice)

Short Goon …

Pockets (voice)

Dad (voice)

Tall Goon (voice)

Buckley (voice)

Pipa God (voice)

Young Din (voice)

Granny Neighbor …

Construction Worker …

Gustav Lindquist

Security Guard 1 & 3 …

Alexandre Chen

Various characters (voice)

Alyssa Abiera

Young Li Na (voice)

Gabriel Lee

Wen …

Chris Appelhans

Hot Towel Waiter …

Directors

Chris Appelhans

Writers

Chris Appelhans(writer by)

Radford Sechrist(head of story by)

Josh Lieberman(head of story by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

To be fair, I didn't expect much. Having pretty much watched everything on Netflix over the past 18 months, I had spent over 30 minutes scrolling and clicking, seemingly in vain, for something interesting. So, in an effort to avoid defeat and an early bedtime, I thought that I'd at least give Wish Dragon a try. So glad I did. It turned out to be a heartwarming, well animated, expertly acted gem. It would be easy to think that this is a simple re-telling of the Arabian Aladdin story but in a Chinese setting, yet it's so much more than that. Indeed, a little research shows that the Aladdin tale originated in China. Instead, it's a well woven story of promises lost and refound, the value and endurance of real friendships, the importance (or lack thereof) of monetary riches and the true meaning of success in life. Animation and other production values are superb and polished, characters are eminently likeable (sometimes quite loveable!) and believably evil in equal parts. It's an hour and a half of pure joy. It has a warm, wholesome, fuzzy feeling in the same vein that The Iron Giant once did. Even for a cynical old sci-fi addicted geek like myself. Highly recommended.

sank9916 Jun, 2021