A Simple Wish
Tags: revenge, fantasy, satire

Plot synopsis:
Oliver Greening is rejected from a coveted performance in a musical version of A Tale of Two Cities for simply not being a bankable performer. After Oliver's 8-year-old daughter Annabel attempts to get her 12-year-old brother Charlie to believe that the tooth fairy exists, Murray, a clumsy fairy godmother, 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.
Hortence (Ruby Dee), the head of all fairy godmothers, is holding the annual meeting of the North American Fairy Godmothers Association (NAFGA). Due to Hortence's rule, all the fairy godmothers must check in their wands before the meeting. Claudia, a former fairy godmother turned evil witch, has shown up at the meeting uninvited and intends to steal all the wands. She gives Hortence's receptionist, Rena (Teri Garr) a witch's apple that puts her to sleep, casts a spell on Hortence turning the head fairy paper-thin and binding her mouth with bricks, and locks all the fairy godmothers downstairs on her way to stealing the wands. Murray, however, arrives at the meeting late and never checks his wand, leaving it as the only wand Claudia doesn't have.
Annabel realizes that Murray has left his magic wand behind and decides to return it to him, but Charlie breaks it. 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 rabbi. 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. To fix the problem, the three of them go to NAFGA and ask for the help of Hortence, who is still under the effects of Claudia's spell. While Murray, Charlie and Rena who has awoken from Claudia's sleeping spell fix Murray's wand, Hortence tells Annabel 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 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.
Claudia catches them, and demands them to tell her where her wand is. When Murray tries to persuade Annabel otherwise into not telling her, as punishment, Claudia changes her and Murray into ballerinas and makes them dance uncontrollably until Annabel agrees to tell her. 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. 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 including Hortence who is now free from Claudia's spell.

Review: An amusing little tale.
This was a fun film, and part of what made the film amusing was that the actors/actresses really seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The story is cute, about a bumbling male fairy godmother (Martin Short) who screws up a wish to the first child under his care and has to help set things straight by rescuing magic wands from a former fairy godmother turned witch (Kathleen Turner) and her dog turned human, Boots (the great Amanda Plummer).
It's a very original idea, which is rare amongst family films these days which all seem to be remakes or rehashed films.
The only real downside to this film (keeping in mind, of course, that it is aimed towards kids) is that some of the dialogue is *really* cheezy and unbelievable (The 10 year-old I was watching over while watching this film kept said 'gimme a break' and 'yeah, right' at a couple of points in the film...and it's one of her favs;) The effects were fun, Martin Short was funny (most of the time...he tends to overdo it at certain moments) and Amanda Plummer really shines..all in all, a good film to watch with one's children.
Yes it's a family movie and a good one!.
This movie made my daughter (7) laugh so much ..
From the opening scenes Murrey shows us what kind on stooge he really is and it just develops from there as the film moves through it's plot.
It's not a bad plot as family movies go.
Kathleen Turner puts in a wicked performance as a villainous witch.
The special effects are good and used in a way that compliments the funniness of the scenes and aren't just there to dazzle or put there arbitrarily.
I saw a comment on another Short movie that fits the bill here too.
There's some very funny scenes here and a decent plot so I'll rate this family comedy for what it is at a solid 7 stars..
A Fun And Smart Kids Movie!.
> This is a very good kids movie, that is fun and entertaining.
Martin Short makes a hilarious Fairy Godmother, or should I say "Fairy Godfather" to Mara Wilson, who only wants her dad to be in a broadway show, but gets mixed up and must stop an evil witch played by Kathleen Turner, or her dad will become a statue!
This movie was smart and fun, and the "frog in your throat" scene was gross-out funny!
Simple, nice and amusing family film, with a charming performance from Mara Wilson.
A Simple Wish isn't a perfect family film, but it is a nice, simple and amusing one.
Of course the story is a tad messy and predictable, it's all a bit basic and the script on the weak and cheesy side.
But kids will definitely like it, and adults might too.
The special effects are decent, there is some nice photography and costumes and the pacing is good, nice and skippy as I like it.
Plus there are some fun moments, one of the funniest ones was the frog-in-your-throat scene, gross but quite amusing.The acting wasn't that bad either.
Martin Short does overact a bit, but he is clearly having fun as Murray.
Mara Wilson, who I really like, gives a typically charming performance.
Robert Pastorelli is giving little to do though, but Ruby Dee and Francis Capra give entertaining performances.
All in all, this is a nice underrated film.
7/10 Bethany Cox. Basic but enjoyable little family film.
Anabel's father is a New York horse-drawn carriage driver but hopes to become a Broadway star.
Anabel wishes for her fairy godmother to help them but, because the majority of them are tied up at the annual conference she has to make do with the failing trainee Murray.
She quickly finds that Murray is not quite as good as he has told her and most of their time is spent trying to correct his mistakes.
Things are more complicated when they are pursued by witch Claudia, who has trapped all the other godmothers and only needs Murray's wand to finalise her attempts at total power.Although I taped this film in error thinking it was something else, I still ended up watching it as it was a bonus family film to act as distraction.
Normally I wouldn't bother with such a thing but on this occasion I did and the end product was a basic but quite entertaining film that had enough to stop it being boring for me and enough silliness and energy to make it enjoyable for children.
The narrative is a bit messy, for a while it is about Murray's weakness as a Fairy Godmother but then it becomes a big finish around a plot by Claudia to get all the power for herself.
However, it is quite amusing along the way and children will enjoy the mix of silliness, effects and magic.The cast are OK and are a good part of this working.
Short is a bit irritating but he does overplay the silliness well enough to provide distraction.
Turner seems to enjoy herself even if her role is a bit smaller than I'm sure she expected; meanwhile Plummer does her usual "slightly unhinged" thing but this time as a dog.
Pastorelli has little to do but Wilson and Capra are both engaging without being like the very sickly All-American kids that US family films can be dripping with.Overall this is a family film and therefore not the sort of thing any adult would really chose to watch alone because there isn't much just for them, even if it isn't bad as such.
The energy, silliness and pace of the film will make it a winner for children and it serves well as a distraction if hardly a great film for the ages..
Fun little episode.
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..
I am sick and tired of people criticizing films just because they happen to be family movies, or G-rated, such as SCTV Fan did in the front page User Comments to this movie.
I am well into my 50's, and just happen to enjoy well made family movies!
My simple wish is, hopefully, that this is a trend away from the profanity and gore that makes up 75% of today's films.
These movie producers are making such movies because: 1: they are allowed to,  2: the public is gullible to buy tickets to see them,  3: they can't take the time to make an intelligent film with language the whole family can listen to and understand, and action that is within limits of decency.
My Simple Wish is not quite up to the quality of the movies I've listed above, but I thank the producers for making it, and thanks to IMDb for letting me have my soapbox..
One of the smartest recent movies for kids.
"A Simple Wish" is one of best children movie I've ever seen, alongside Miracle on 34th Street (the original), A Bug's Life and a few others.
It's really easy to screw up when making a film for kids.
They don't expect much and amuse themselves with a little dosis of real humour and no story at all.
But when the movie is really well done, it can become a classic.The movie is about the male fairy-godmother Murray(Martin Short at his best), who's having a little trouble making Anabel's (Mara Wilson) dream come true because of his little experience in "godmothering".
And above all that, they have to fight the evil ex-fairy-godmother Claudia (Kathleen Turner), who wants to rule above all her ex-mates.The plot sounds a little common?
It might even be, but here it has been so well structured that we are carried to Anabel's life and we feel the helplessness of Murray, who's trying so hard to save the day, even though he don't have the skill to do it.
He has a good heart and that's all that it takes.The characters are lovable.
Amanda Plummer is especially funny, as Claudia's sidekick.
The dialogues are clever yet simple, perfect for kids and for grown ups who enjoy real pure fantasy and delightment..
Well worth renting: kids will LOVE,& adults can enjoy acting.
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!.
Pretty good, but starts way too slow for a family film..
DOUBTFIRE) wishes for her cabbie father Pastorelli to win the leading role in a Broadway adaptation of Dickens' A TALE OF TWO CITIES, and Short (still called a "fairy godmother" despite being a male) arrives to (attempt to) grant it to her.
Fans of Short's comedy will get it, and even if you're not a fan of his work there are still some worthy moments; however, the story takes way too long to get going for a movie targeted at children.
Capra's character also slows the movie down as Wilson's stereotypical punk older brother who's protective of his younger sister but is too cool to show it.
The musical numbers in the theatre scenes are a nice touch, but it's difficult to give the movie brownie-points for it since the film itself is not a musical.
one of the Fairy Godmother's (Bunty Webb) was the 'Ay Caramba' Lady in TOMMY BOY!** (out of four).
This was a fun film, and part of what made the film amusing was that the actors/actresses really seemed to be having fun..
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..
Anabel (Mara Wilson) will be forced to move away from home unless her dad wins the lead role in a new theatre production of Two Cities.
Teased by her older brother for her love of fantasy books like Cinderella, she is overjoyed to discover she has a fairy godmother.
Unfortunately, it turns out to be a rather camp Martin Short...
After a few wasted wishes cause her dad to be transformed into a statue by our feckless fairy, she discovers the only way to return him to his former self is to help the Head Fairy save the world from an evil witch (played by Kathleen Turner) and her canine-turned-human accomplice called Boots (Amanda Plumming) who seeks to steal all the fairy's magic for herself by nicking everybody's wands.
Can they succeed in their mission or will Daddy remain a target for pigeons and fanatical Japanese tourists for the rest of his life?I'd been looking forward to seeing this film for quite a while.
The plot sounded kinda interesting and Mara Wilson was so good in 'Miracle on 34th Street' that how could possibly fail?
Let's start the analysis with the plot, which has no clear direction and despite the meagre 86 minutes running time, takes too many aimless detours (Like the little trip to Pawhuska, for instance) The special effects are fine, even the computer generated frogs and birds which are obvious fakes have a kind of charm to them.
However, I could have done without the 'comedy stylings' of Martin Short at his hyperactive worst, or Amanda Plumming who chews one too many shoes for my liking in this role.If you're babysitting one night and you find yourself shoved in front of the box with this playing, I'm afraid the only consolation is some good one-liners from Turner and a few mildly diverting magic spells.
Needing far more work at the screenplay stage and a bit of restraint in the performances too, I rank this forgettable, strictly-for-the-kids production a 4 out of 10..
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.
Liked the music very much.
I thought that this was a very enjoyable family movie and my young neice was quite captivated.From a personal standpoint, I thought that the music was excellent!
I know that the musical of "Two Cities" was fictitious but very much liked the song "Far Far Better" (?)Would anybody know if this song is available on sheet music and if so where I can get it from?
if i can go one step further to suggest that the reason that those 'gore', etc movies get made is that the majority of the human species is addicted to adrenaline...and i'm using the word addicted intentionally, of course...
some would be considered healthy(let's say sports?), some not(acting on anger reflex(once again i use a word, 'reflex', intentionally.
even a 'good' kids action/adventure produces that adrenaline...
I thought this movie was wonderful.
It had all the elements of a good fairy tale.
The acting was excellent and while the special effects could've been better, for a movie aimed at a younger audience I can't complain.
While I'm not much of a fan of children's movies, seeing a Simple Wish made me reminisce of my fairy-tale filled childhood and left me with a happy feeling after it was over.
Predictable ending of course, but the quirky humor and great cast makes this film worth seeing..
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..
Good story and acting.
It's only down side is that it's a family movie.
A Simple Wish Would Be the Extermination of This Film..
A Simple Wish (1997): Dir: Michael Ritchie / Cast: Martin Short, Mara Wilson, Kathleen Turner, Amanda Plummer, Robert Pastorelli: Simple film much like many of its kind but it contains glorious visual images that are amongst its few praises.
It stars Martin Short as a fairy godmother who accidentally turns Mara Wilson's father into a statue.
They must retrieve the wand from an evil witch by midnight.
Simple plot with numerous happenings that showcase massive production values.
Children may not relate to Broadway musicals and auditions.
Then again, what element of this film can a kid possible relate too?
Director Michael Ritchie has fun with the magical elements.
This is somewhat similar to one of his earlier films, The Golden Child.
Short is basically the bunt of a bad joke looking ridiculous, and Wilson provides the ever familiar wholesome innocence.
Kathleen Turner is a superb actress but playing this witch is so beneath her talent.
Amanda Plummer plays her sidekick who belongs on a dog leash and marched around central park.
Robert Pastorelli plays Wilson's father who more or less should be a statue considering the role.
Are adults suppose to sit through this with their children and suffer along with the talent involved?
Satire of fairy tales that had potential yet one might wish for a better screenplay.
Martin Short is this movie..
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.
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:***/****.
A Fun Little Movie.
Martin Short(Muarry) was pretty funny in this film.
And he always acts as if he has done magic so many times before, but always screws up.
Mara Wilson was really cute in this film, just a little girl who believed in magic and the tooth fairy as we all did as children.
And then Francis Capra(Charlie) is the typical older brother.Overall, I did enjoy this movie.
Made me laugh a few times(like when he just sneezes so loud and acts up during the test).
And then the part with Dwayne, and his shirt and the way Muarry(Martin Short) tries to stand up to him.
^-^ Yes, good family movie too, and the tiny tykes will really enjoy it.