A Familiar Story In A Different Setting (Wish Dragon)

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Asian representation in animated movies has been flourishing screens for a while now as it should have been years ago. The likes of Raya, Over The Moon, and now, Wish Dragon makes me really happy for how far we've come and hopefully can look to the future to watch movies that will represent an Indian like me too. But we are not here to talk about that, this article is about Wish Dragon, the latest Netflix animated movie that portrays a familiar story that still managed to make such a great-looking 3D animation feature memorable. 

Wish Dragon takes place in Shanghai, about a boy named Din who wants to meet his best friend whom he hasn't seen she moved away years ago. Constantly doubting himself if he is ever enough to keep the promise of being friends with her all those years ago, Din comes across a jade teapot that makes him the master of the Wish Dragon inside that has the ability to grant three wishes. The Dragon also has a motivation of his own for that he must serve 10 masters so that he can finally go reach the gates of heaven and Din is his last master. 

A story that resembles the Disney classic Aladdin does put you off a little but eventually, it becomes easy to look beyond the similarities and focus on the fun humor and accuracy of Asian representation in a film that is aimed towards younger audiences as well as it will entertain adults. What I can guarantee is that Wish Dragon will make you laugh. Although not the funniest animated film ever but it should be considered as an animated film worth watching more than once unlike Over The Moon, a movie I haven't thought of since yesterday when watching this film. Unlike most people who have compared Aladdin with this is understandable but I honestly do not want to. I cannot help but separate these two movies because they are both special individually. 

The film features voice talents such as Jimmy Wong (Mulan) as Din, Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) as Din's mother, and John Cho (Star Trek) as the Long, the Wish Dragon, all very prominent Asian talents within the Hollywood scene proving that movie studios aren't afraid to feature an all Asian cast in an Asian themed animated film, something they didn't think of when making the original animated Mulan but luckily, Hollywood has changed for the better in that department. 

To conclude, Wish Dragon should be experienced by everyone without it being compared. Wish Dragon could just become the Aladdin of the new generation of children, teaching them rules of wish making and wondering what it would be like to have three wishes the way I did when I first watched Aladdin all those years ago. Wish Dragon is the family movie to watch this weekend and I really hope there are people out there who will enjoy it as much as I did. 

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