I Wish - Faites un voeu

To begin, this is definitely not a very good film. What's on screen views as a promising second draft that needed a bit of story expansion and nuance by the screenwriter. It not helpful the script is directed just as written, meaning no atmosphere, mood or imagination. Young Joey King plays Claire, a high school student who comes into possession of a Chinese Wish box and granted seven wishes which are paid for by the death of those closest to her. Claire's vapid wishes lead to several deaths that take place in a vacuum. If you have seen a "Final Destination" film you've seen how this goes, The redeeming feature of the story is the writer has set up a rather interesting twist at the end, however, it mostly just sits at the beginning and end, ignored , almost like a draft. It's so underdeveloped, I was halfway home before I realized how clever it might have been. Watch the dog's scenes at the beginning.

Wish Upon is a horror tale that tells the story of a mysterious Chinese music box that grants seven wishes, but at a price. Starring the adorable Joey King alongside Ryan Phillippe and Elisabeth Rohm it's an original piece, though clearly influenced by the classic tale of the monkeys paw. Thankfully I like that old tale so was excited to see what new twists they brought to the table, and quite frankly I walked away happy though some influence came from Final Destination (2000) as well. It's a well constructed, suitably paced movie with a fantastic cast and more than a sprinkle of good ideas. I find Joey King very likeable, not only the fact that she's adorable but she's a competent actress with hopefully a great career ahead of her and it's about time Phillippe returned to form. If you like alternative horror that doesn't rely on a dude with a knife, ghosts, big scary monsters or demonic themes then this may well be for you. There were elements that left me scratching my head but nothing that wasn't forgivable. Well worth a watch. The Good: Fantastic cast Solid concept The Bad: Dreadful cover art Couple of loose ends

I'm sorry but what assembly of badly-cut nonsense scenes is this shitpile of a movie? Mostly I'm sorry that they put that much money into making this stupid movie. (12 mio.$, which is still too much) By stupid, I do not mean to insult the movie, or the movie makers, but the movie thoroughly is stupid. From the very beginning, you know how it will end. You know more or less what the engravings on the box will translate to, and that the main character will die because of it. Every single thing that happens is annoyingly foreseeable. (Spoiler Alert!) So, the movie starts off with Clare being haunted by her mother's suicide when she was little. Her father, Jonathan, who dumpster dives like an addict, one day finds a music box with Chinese engravings and gives it to his daughter as an early birthday present. Clare manages to decipher ''Seven Wishes'' on the box. Of course, she ignores the rest of whats written on the box, the small print, saying, – as we find out afterwards – that every wish has a blood price and that she'll die afterwards. (It will claim her soul.) After her first wish, to rot the school bully Darcie, comes true, Clare's beloved dog dies. Though, that does not seem to frighten Clare enough to stop. She goes on wishing for dumb teenager stuff, and is surprised every time someone dies. Only after her fourth wish, she realizes that it was maybe not the best idea to go on like this. She now still makes wishes, only that she starts feeling a little guilty. (3 people and her dog died and she only NOW feels bad) As Clare's life is going down the drain, she uses her seventh and last wish to travel back in time to the day before her father found the music box. Instead of keeping everyone away from it, she takes she music box and gives it to a friend in order for him to bury it. Of course, out of curiosity he does not simply bury it without checking it out. So, Clare gets run over and the music box, with Clare's help, finds its next owner and target. Thank you Clare. A mid-credit-scene of her friend with the music box indicates a sequel. (please no sequel.) Besides the flawed and stupid plot, the jump-scares the movie tries to make are really bad. The music builds up, and you already know what's going to happen. This gets to the point that you are annoyed more and more by every alleged jump-scare they try to make. Oh wait, I forgot - what music? The only tension the movie manages to build up is the tension to decide whether to leave the movie theater or hope for a good end, that is not there. Also, the camera movements are really weird. The producers maybe tried to be fancy and creative, but all they did was confuse the viewers with weird angles and shots that do not fit. So, all in all, cinematography, music and the plot were disappointing. Would not recommend this movie. If I had a music box to grant me the wish to go back in time, I would go see another movie instead.

I don't even know how to review this film. First things first though, this movie is awful. This is poor filmmaking in every possible facet. Writing, acting, editing, you name it. Terrible. Every bit of it. ...or is it? Every once in a while a horror film comes out that is so poorly made that it crosses the line into comedy. This is one of those rare, heralded (at least in my household) gems. I would say I expect nothing less from a PG-13 horror movie, but Insidious proved back in 2010 that horror can be extremely effective without a R-rating. What we get in Wish Upon is an amalgamation of Lifetime Channel level writing and Disney Channel level acting. The premise, in itself, is a trope. Protagonist finds magical item, magical item significantly improves protagonist's life, magical item then proceeds to ruin protagonist's life. Every beat of the plot can be seen from miles away, which honestly, is to be expected. The dialogue here is stunningly terrible for a wide-released motion picture. I rolled my eyes at least once every scene, and nearly everyone in the theater I watched this in groaned, sighed, and laughed hysterically throughout the film. The acting here would be sub par even for a Disney Channel original. Lead actress Joey King possibly gives the worst lead performance of the year, and she is constantly one-upped (downed?) by her awful co- stars. Which leads me to my theory. What if the director, screenwriters, and actors were intentionally trying to make a bad movie? What if this is all a Scream-esque piece of satire? What if terrible was what the cast and crew were actually going for? This is the only explanation for Wish Upon's across-the- board awfulness. It is unimaginable that screenwriter Barbara Marshall sat down and earnestly put a pen to pad to write some of the lines delivered in this film. I hope this was all done tongue-in- cheek, because if it wasn't, nobody involved should ever get work in the film industry again. All things considered, I enjoyed watching this film. True, there is absolutely nothing even remotely scary in this "horror" film. But, I laughed constantly at the lows of this film because I had no expectation of any highs. Oddly enough, the single redeeming feature of this mess is simply how bad it is. Do I ever want to see this again? Of course not. But, there is something to be said for the entertainment level that comes with an almost intentionally terrible film. I can't, in good conscience, give this dumpster fire a positive rating. But take my stars (or lack thereof) with a grain of salt. If you are looking forward to a great-bad film, you will get plenty of laughs out of this one.