A Simple Wish

This is really worthwhile; the Kids I showed it to (Boy,8 & girl,5) LOVED it, even to the extent of asking me to rewind/reshow certain parts. I really enjoyed the acting---lots of famous talent--the score---and the "inside" theatre stuff. Also it kept to its "G" rating without any of the violence or language found in SOOOO many purportedly "kids flix" lately. I've watched it without kids and loved it, too!

Child star Mara Wilson comes unstuck a little with a film that's spoilt entirely by a ridiculously over the top performance by Martin Short that desperately needed reigning in by the director. Not great.

This film about a little girl's wish for her dad starred Kathleen Turner, Mara Wilson, Amanda Plummer, Ruby Dee, Robert Pastorelli and Martin Short -- a good cast but only fair execution. Unfortunately, the filmmakers waited until the end of the movie for most of the witchcraft/special effects so the film seemed long. There were some good performances, however, and the best scenes actually took place in the theater. Frankly,the Tale of Two Cities music, written by Lucy Simon, sounded glorious and better than what's on Broadway, and was excellently sung. Actually the music was the best thing about "A Simple Wish." More theater scenes, spread out the witchcraft, and they may have had a film.

This was a fun film, and part of what made the film amusing was that the actors/actresses really seemed to be having fun. (Mara Wilson)Anabel's Dad,(Robert Pastorelli)Oliver is a horse carriage rider and takes auditions to become a singer and Anabel meets a male fairy godmother,(Martin Short)Murray and Anabel's wish is for her father to actually become a singer. When the wish is granted it all changes.Anabel's father turns into a statue because Murray casts the spell wrong because he has not had that much training.A witch,(KLathleen Turner)Claudia wants Murray's wand because it is the most powerful.Join in the fun and watch how Anabel's father is turned back.

Why does everyone insist on dissing this movie. Its way cool, and a great way to entertain the savage kids while you take a break. Short is funny, Wilson is fun, and Turner is a riot, in fact the best reason to see the movie is because of Turner. So go ahead see it, no one will tell.

Sometimes, in a film like A simple wish, it takes one celeb to make a movie work. That was kind of the case with Pirates of the Caribbean. It wouldn't have been the same if Christopher Walken would've played Captain Jack. I similar sort of thing goes for A simple wish. Martin Short is great, as usual. And probably couldn't have made the film better. He is mostly why I enjoyed the film. The film is kind of silly. Though it has a good cast. Kathleen Turner as the villain. And a somewhat silly performance by Amanda Plummer from Pulp fiction as her assistant. Though i'll admit it is kind of silly, it is still fun. A Simple wish:***/****

Forget Jesus Camp but if you and your children are into Witches and Warlocks, dark magic and Wizard films then you and your children will like this dark-light-haarted movie made for children. It stars the Matilda girl who seemed to be role casted to play another magical witch again. Overall, I like this movie because they were able to mesh together dark magic and family fun together and it worked very well. The acting was obviously forced, still it was a fun movie to be relaxtained.

Okay, while the plot may not be Shakespeare, its simplicity is refreshing. Martin Short is very funny, as always, and Mara Wilson is a wonderful child actress whose acting caliber could compare to many adult actors/actresses. Kathleen Turner is delicious to watch as a bad apple witch, who's bent on revenge. Her deep yet sultry voice and beautiful looks present the perfect image of a goody-goody witch gone bad. For a simple yet smart comedy, rent this film.