movie review - Wish Dragon
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
It's about a young fellow who is being raised by a single mother. He's harboring a crush on a child-hood friend (a girl raised by a single dad) and is still trying to meet and impress her although she's become an in-demand model.
Our hero finds a magic lamp containing a genie in the form of a dragon. The dragon, it turns out, is the spirit of a warlord long dead and barred entry from Heaven for for living the life of a cruel and thoughtless tyrant. He's been sent back to Earth in this form to Learn a Lesson but clearly hasn't. He's been floating about China in the teapot for centuries, granting wishes but in a way that's not really improving the lives of those to whom he grants them. Now quite jaded, he's going through the motions and doesn't seem to see a path back to Heaven.
The heavy in the story is the model's father, whose business empire is slipping from his grasp due to .. I want to say over-extension and bad luck? In a heel-face turn worthy of Spider-Man, it begins to dawn on the Big Bad that his minions might not have his best interests at heart - that pesky principle/agent problem.
The movie treads some fairly familiar ground but remains fresh enough and entertaining throughout. Definitely a step above some of the stuff that's endlessly churned out on Netflix.
I was surprised to note that this is a movie from Jackie Chan's production shop - I didn't know he'd built that. They seem to know what they're doing.
Strongly recommended.