Wish Dragon

Din, a working-class university student in Shanghai, gets three wishes from Long, a dragon who comes out of a teapot, and tries to use them to reach his childhood friend Li Na again. It is a Sony Pictures Animation and Base Animation co-production and Chris Appelhans's first film as director. John Cho voices Long in the English version and Jimmy Wong plays Din. The most interesting thing is where it was made. The film was produced in China with a largely mainland Chinese creative team and described as focused on the hopes and dreams of contemporary China. Jackie Chan produced and voiced the lead in the Mandarin dub. It opened in Chinese cinemas on 15 January 2021 and went out worldwide on Netflix on 11 June 2021. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 71 percent with a blunt consensus: a colourful and quirky romp that is also plainly Aladdin relocated to modern Shanghai. Metacritic gave it 59. Who it is for: families wanting animation and a contemporary story set in China. Who it is not for: anyone expecting originality. The comparison is fair and the film never leaves the template.