06-20-2021, 10:11 PM
This is basically Aladdin. A poor boy finds a teapot with a magic wish dragon that grants three wishes. He wants to connect with his childhood friend, a girl that grew to be a supermodel. He uses his second wish to become a prince. There's even a magic carpet ride, only on the dragon. It's unabashedly derivative.
The characters are even recycled. The girl, Li Na, looks the the mom in the Incredibles, but Chinese. The dragon looks like Akwafina in Raya and the Last Dragon. Yeah, he's furry. He's wacky, a hybrid of Mushu and Genie, what Akwafina aspired to do perhaps.
But this is produced by Jackie Chan, and Jackie voices the dragon. The rub is that Jackie only voices the dragon in the Mandarin version. John Cho voices the Dragon in English. The English cast is strong - Constance Wu, Jimmy O Yang, Ronnie Chiang, Wil Yun Lee, Natasha Liu Bordizzo. I'm not sure who was in the Mandarin cast apart from Jackie. I watched it in Chinese with subs because I was really only in it for Jackie. And Jackie is okay. His version was stronger than what I heard of Cho's (I made the switch about a half hour in when I realized that no one sounded like Jackie and did a little web search to find out why).
The other rub is that it's set in Shanghai. There are tons of subtle nods to Chinese culture, both ancient and modern, that set this apart. Plus there's some great themes of parent/child relationships, the nature of wealth, the meaning of sacrifice. There's some good references like Chi Guo Tianwang, the Buddhist guardian of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Where this really shines is the Kung Fu. That's the first wish. The Kung Fu fights are hilarious and you know that says a lot coming from me. There's this villain that's a super kicker. He fights with his hands in his pockets. The fight animation is a strange blend of Jackie Chan antics, Looney Toon physics, and classic Wuxia wirework. Even without a sword fight, I was strangely satisfied.
I wound up liking this for its vision of modern-day Shanghai and it's oversentimentality with the father/daughter relationship. I enjoyed Jackie's work very much and the Kung Fu schtick was just right for me.
DOOM recommended? Well, not for Greg. He won't get past the blatant poaching, and rightly so. It's such a rip off in so many ways, even down to some chiding Easter egg scenes, like the chess game stolen from Mulan. If you're good with a fast forward on Netflix, I'd DOOM recommend the fight scenes. You really don't have to know what's going on to enjoy those, just that some bad guys want to steal the Wish Dragon teapot.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse