The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Wish Dragon
Animation · Family · Comedy · 2021
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.
Movie details
Wish Dragon
“Three magical wishes. One life changing adventure.”
2021 Animation · Family · Comedy 1h 39m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.2 / 10
36.8K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
71 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
59 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
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.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Wish Dragon?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
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Puss in Boots discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll: He has burned through eight of his nine lives, leaving him with only one life left. Puss sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives.
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Dragon Rider
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An unlikely trio of heroes – a dragon, a boy and a forest brownie – embark on an epic adventure to find the “Rim of Heaven” - the mythological safe haven for all dragons.
My Father's Dragon
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Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob
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An evil sorceress transports the gang back to the age of chivalrous knights, spell-casting wizards, and fire-breathing dragons.
In Your Dreams
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Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Family · 2005
Who or what exactly is a Heffalump? The lovable residents of the Hundred Acre Wood -- Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga and the rest of the pack -- embark on a journey of discovery in search of the elusive Heffalump. But as is always the case, this unusual road trip opens their eyes to so much more than just the creature they're seeking.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Chris Appelhans
Written by
Chris Appelhans
Jimmy Wong
Din (voice)
John Cho
Long (voice)
Constance Wu
Mom (voice)
Natasha Liu Bordizzo
Lina (voice)
Jimmy O. Yang
Short Goon / Security Guard 2 (voice)
Aaron Yoo
Pockets (voice)
Will Yun Lee
Dad (voice)
Court is in session
Put Wish Dragon on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.