A Simple Wish

A Simple Wish
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Ritchie
Produced by	Michael S. Glick Jeff Rothberg
Written by	Jeff Rothberg
Starring	Martin Short Mara Wilson Robert Pastorelli Amanda Plummer Francis Capra Ruby Dee Teri Garr Kathleen Turner
Music by	Bruce Broughton
Cinematography	Ralf D. Bode
Editing by	William S. Scharf
Studio	The Bubble Factory
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 11, 1997
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$8,345,056

A Simple Wish is a 1997 fantasy-comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie, and starring Martin Short, Mara Wilson, and Kathleen Turner. The film about a bumbling male fairy godmother named Murray (Short), who tries to help eight-year-old Annabel (Wilson) fulfill her wish that her father, a carriage driver, wins the leading role in a Broadway musical.

Plot

The film begins with many fairy godmothers taking an exam. There is only one male one doing it, after a few hours of unsuccessfully trying to copy the others in order to pass his own quicker. He eventually finishes. The film then takes place three months after the exam concerning the life of an otherwise insignificant park carriage driver named Oliver Greening (Robert Pastorelli). After an accident with his horse, Duchess, he picks up his daughter, Annabel (Mara Wilson), and son, Charlie (Francis Capra), from school, whereupon he must then go to his audition for A Tale of Two Cities. However, the man who watches him respects his work and even though he would like to consider him, he cannot due to his promise to the show's backers of a big name actor in the role.

After Annabel attempts to get Charlie to believe that the tooth fairy exists, Murray the fairy godmother (Martin Short) appears after Charlie has gone to sleep. Annabel wants to wish for her father to get the role, but Murray suddenly remembers he is late for an important engagement and promises to return to grant her wish later. That night, Hortence (Ruby Dee), the head of all fairy godmothers, is holding the annual meeting of the North American Fairy Godmothers Association. All of them appear at the NAFGA home for this meeting. Due to Hortence's rule, all the fairy godmothers must check in their wands before the meeting (due to a previous incident, according to Hortence). Murray arrives late and is therefore locked out of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Claudia (Kathleen Turner), a former fairy godmother who has turned into an evil witch, has shown up at the meeting uninvited. After Claudia tricks a receptionist into eating a witch's apple, putting her to sleep, Hortence arrives and orders Claudia to leave. Claudia refuses and unexpectedly casts a spell that turns the head fairy into a paper-thin, two-dimensional version of herself. The spell renders Hortence completely powerless, leaving Claudia free to stuff Hortence's mouth with bricks and steal all the checked wands from her office. Claudia escapes with her accomplice Boots (Amanda Plummer), her pet dog that she has turned into a human, believing she has all the wands... however, she is missing Murray's wand, which was not turned in because he missed the meeting.

The next day, Annabel realizes that Murray has left his magic wand behind and decides to return it to him, but Charlie breaks it. She tries to fix it during art class, but fails. She runs out of class and hides when her teacher tries to confiscate the wand, but unexpectedly meets Murray. The two disappear to Nebraska, by way of a misconstrued spell cast by him to get out quickly. After he tries and fails to turn a selfish motel owner they meet there into a giant rabbit (turning him into a 50-foot-tall (15 m) rabbi, instead); the two end up back in Central Park. Because of them disappearing in an unexplained way, the school closes early. Charlie finds them. Annabel begs Murray to try to grant her wish now that they are close to her father, but due to yet another mishap by him, Oliver is turned into a statue, Duchess into a mouse, and his carriage into a pumpkin. To fix the problem, the three of them go to NAFGA and ask for the help of Hortence. When they arrive, they find her, who is still under the effects of Claudia's spell. Murray attempts and succeeds at blasting away the bricks lodged in her mouth. She tells them of Claudia's plot and explains that the awry spell must be lifted before midnight, or Oliver will be doomed to remain a statue forever. Claudia, meanwhile, has been looking through the wands, searching for hers. After going through, she realizes it is missing and now belonging to Murray, and is determined to obtain it.

Annabel and Murray head to the theater and see Tony Sable, the selfish and conceited actor who is auditioning for Oliver's part. Knowing this could ruin her father's chance of being in the show, she asks Murray to sabotage the audition any way he can. First he tries to make it rain on the stage (after being inspired by the "rain check" he gave Annabel the night they met), but it is dismissed as a simple technical problem and the audition continues. Then she asks him to give Sable a frog in his throat to impair his singing. He takes this wish too literally, and frogs start hopping out of Sable's mouth, shocking the cast and crew. Annabel and Murray celebrate but Sable gets the part since Oliver has not shown up. Boots, who has been looking for Murray, finds them. Murray mentions the story of Brer Rabbit to Annabel and they beg her not to take them to Claudia's lair so she will. Boots is tricked and "kidnaps" them, with Charlie following not too far behind with Murray's wand.

Claudia catches them, and demands them to tell her where her wand is. She tells Annabel that she will make all her wishes come true. When she refuses to tell her, as punishment, she changes her and Murray into ballerinas and makes them dance uncontrollably. She composes the music and makes it go faster and faster until Annabel agrees to tell her. After a fight over the possession of the wand, Claudia wins but Boots steals it back and gives it to Murray. Out of spite, Claudia turns her back into a dog, then attempts to cast a spell on Murray, but, instead, rebounds on a mirror, drawing her into it: her struggles to escape cause the mirror to fall down, shattering into tiny pieces. Murray, Charlie, and Annabel return to Central Park and restore Oliver just in time. He is given the part of Sable's understudy thanks to a producer who enjoyed his audition (and is hinted they have mutual feelings for each other). In order to finally grant Annabel's wish, Murray appears backstage and causes Sable to slip on a bucket, and twist his ankle. The resultant temper tantrum gets him fired and Oliver, his understudy, is cast in his place. Charlie and Annabel watch the show with Murray and the other fairy godmothers. The Palace Theatre play (an adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities) is a success, as Oliver moves the entire audience to tears with his stirring performance, and Murray walks home with Boots (who is now his dog).

Cast

• Martin Short as Murray
• Mara Wilson as Anabel Greening
• Robert Pastorelli as Oliver Greening
• Francis Capra as Charlie Greening
• Ruby Dee as Hortence: The Head Of the Fairy Godmothers
• Kathleen Turner as Claudia
• Lanny Flaherty as Duane
• Teri Garr as Rena
• Amanda Plummer as Boots

Reception

Reception to the movie was mixed, with Pixelated Geek's Cinerina stating that while the movie's jokes might not appeal to adults, the movie would have appeal for a younger audience. Roger Ebert gave the film one and half stars, saying "When family audiences avoid inspired films like The Secret Garden, The Little Princess and Shiloh, why would they choose a pallid exercise like this?" ReelViews and the Austin Chronicle both reviewed the film, with the Chronicle stating that "The concept's good... But this family film about an incompetent fairy godmother named Murray (Short), is shy several handfuls of fairy dust."

External links

• A Simple Wish at the Internet Movie Database
• A Simple Wish at AllRovi
• A Simple Wish at Box Office Mojo
• A Simple Wish at Rotten Tomatoes