Wish Dragon is a weird movie. In theory, it should be a run-of-the-mill Netflix original with middling animation and a generic plot with generic standard-issue themes. And it kind of is… but it also has some very creative comedic timing, some interesting animation (if not art), and some charming characters and acting. So I didn’t hate it… not at all. But I did keep on wishing it was better.

Wish Dragon is about a teenage kid who wants to reconnect with an old friend from elementary school who is now a budding super model. He stumbles on a magic tea pot from which arises a wish dragon offering him three wishes. Can he use his wishes wisely, get the girl, and avoid the creepy thugs chasing after the tea pot for their own nefarious needs? Can the wish dragon himself achieve his own goals? And survive modern Shanghai?

The art and animation of this film is odd. It’s pretty basic low-effort CG kids film animation… not bad but also not particularly good either. There’s not a lot of creativity to the humans… though the dragon is a bit better. But it’s the weird gummy animation that is both interesting and a little off-putting. At one point, our hero becomes a kung-fu master and he faces off a number of times with a goon who also has skills. Their loose-limbed gummy legged movements are certainly creative (even if they reminded me of the villain from Norm of the North… and no one should ever be reminded of Norm of the North). And that animation is occasionally quite funny… but it’s also a little off-putting. It works for the bendy, often L and U-shaped dragon but for the humans, it’s kinda weird.

As far as the rest of the movie goes… it’s all fairly fine and harmless. I was more-or-less engaged the majority of the time and chuckled on a number of occasions. Someone in the production of the film had an off-kilter sense of humor and excellent comic timing. It kind of reminded me of the random asides in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

I enjoyed the lead characters, even when we had to have the standard-issue misunderstanding (at least it was resolved without fake drama). But I smiled often enough with them on-screen. Also was pleased they didn’t think they needed to stuff the movie with songs. Nothing wrong with animated musicals… as long as the tunes are necessary, they fit, and they aren’t obligatory.

So, yeah, this is an alright movie. It came close to getting an extra half star for some charming character work by the lead actors but the middle of the movie kind of wiped that away. I certainly enjoyed it more than the last China-produced, Netflix original Over the Moon. If you like animation and pretty decent comedy, this movie will probably work for you.

And, hey, got through the whole review without mentioning Aladdin. How ’bout that?

Score: 77