WISH UPON

US, 2017, 90 minutes, Colour.
Joey King, Ryan Philippe, Ki Hong Lee, Mitchell Slaggert, Shannon Purser, Sydney Park, Elizabeth Rohm, Josephine Langford, Sherilyn Fenn.
Directed by John R. Leonetti.

Wish Upon is an imaginative fantasy for a teenage audience. Joey King portrays a young girl at school in Ohio. At the beginning of the film, the audience has seen her mother with a mysterious package, putting it in the rubbish – and then hanging herself, her daughter finding her.

Years later, she is still missing her mother, somewhat embarrassed by her father and his collecting rubbish with his friend. The father is played by Ryan Philippe. She also has friends at school.

Her father has found the mysterious package, a box with Chinese letters on it, difficult to open – although it does open up itself, plays music, and offers the owner of the box 7 wishes.

The young girl is very self-centred in her wishes, initially wishing her bullying glamorous enemy at school to rot. She does. There are also wishes about wealth, her being popular… Despite her wishes and advice from her friends, she cannot let go.

The film is something of a moral tale, a warning that one can wish for all kinds of things for oneself but that they have consequences. This is pointed out by her Chinese friend at school who takes her to see a woman who can decipher the message on the box – and who is later killed. The friend is able to give an account of the history of the box and the various people whom it has destroyed. Clearly, the young girl is now on the list – and will hand it on to others for its devastating history.

1. The title? Wishes? Magic instruments? Destructive?

2. The Ohio settings, the old home, the mansion, the streets, school, dining room, the Asian loft? Atmospheric? The musical score?

3. The first part of the film a variation on high school drama and mean girls? The ominous opening, putting the package in the garbage, the mother going upstairs, the delight in her daughter, sending off on her bike, hanging herself, Claie’s discovery? The mysterious tone for the film?

4. Clare, a teenager, missing her mother, her relationship with her father, he and his friend continually collecting the rubbish, searching in the dumpsters? Her embarrassment at school? The accident on the way to school, her leg, seeing her uncle? Her father distanced from the uncle? Her friendship with June and Meredith? Looked down on by the others?

5. Jonathan, the concerned father, playing the musical instrument, giving up? His bond with Clare? Leaving the gift on her bed?

6. The Chinese background of the gift, the box, unable to be opened? Opening mysteriously? The music playing? The rays coming out? The dire effects, the death of Clare’s dog and her grief, Mrs De Luca and her friendship, her hair being caught in the sink, her death and Clare discovering it? The threat to her father, changing the tire, his being hit by the wheel but surviving?

7. Clare and her friends, in the dining area, shunned? Clare and her eye on Paul but is not noticing her? The conversations with her friends?

8. The beginning of the wishes? That her rival would rot, hospitalised? And the photos on social media? Her wanting to be rich – and the inheritance from her uncle? (And repossession because of his not paying taxes)? The news, getting the mansion, settling in, the new car, clothes, gifts for her friends? Her wanting to be popular at school? Her wanting Paul to fall in love with her – and his attraction, his girlfriend and the breakup, her animosity? And June and Meredith feeling left out?

9. The concern about the box, the death, Paul and his attraction? Ryan, his Chinese background, going to his aunt with the box, reading the signs? The dire consequences? The history of the box, the woman, plague, cure, getting everything she wanted, but eventual suicide? His aunt’s phone call, fear and death?

10. Ryan, his research, finding out about all the people at the box, the flashbacks to their stories, getting everything they wanted, grim deaths?

11. Meredith and June, trying to persuade Clare to get rid of the box, her initial attempts, at her wanting to keep it, having to more wishes? Ryan and his concern – and the news of his aunt’s death?

12. Meredith, the computer games, going to the top floor, caught in the lift, her death? June trying to get rid of the box? Blaming Clare? June falling down the stairs?

13. Clare, in the grip of the box? Her wish that life could go back to what it was before getting the box?

14. The restoration, the house, her dog, her father, lives restored?

15. The wish for her mother, her mother come back to life, the bond between the two – but the destructive results, for her father?

16. The discussions with Ryan about parallel universes, multi-verses?

17. A film for a younger audience, PG rating, the themes, the magic, touches of violence?

18. And the moralising – gaining the whole world but losing everything?