You Wish!

**You Wish!** is a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released on January 10, 2003. The film was based on the book If I Had One Wish written by Jackie French Koller.

## Plot

16-year-old Alex Lansing is extremely tormented by his younger brother, Stevie because Stevie has played pranks on Alex, such as buying a turkey from a pet adoption show and making Harbour High Jocks named Gary and his friends slam a pizza on Alex's head. Most recently, Alex is forced to take Stevie to the mall with him and his friend James. Stevie receives a magical coin from Larry Pendragon, an eccentric but kindly man, who allows him to wish anything, and runs off in the mall without telling Alex. Their parents angrily punish Alex, having enough with his carelessness with Stevie, and send Alex to bed early. After Stevie gives Alex the coin, Alex upsettingly wishes that he had never had a little brother.

The next day, he wakes up, only to find that his wish has come true. Stevie is now a famous child actor named Terrence Russell McCormack who stars on a TV show named Where's Stevie? Although a cheerleader is his girlfriend now and he is mostly popular in school, Alex soon regrets a few things and that is his new popular jock friends including Gary are now tormenting Abby and James. Fiona the cheerleader is also revealed to be crude, mean, and bossy. After a while, Alex began to miss Stevie because their parents are career-obsessed, which makes him feel lonely at his home. After being kicked out of Terrance's dressing room because Terrance thinks he is crazy when he tells him about him being Stevie, Alex reflects on his life with Stevie and realizes how much he cares about him and misses him. As Alex walks home, Terrance drives by and decides to walk with Alex, who he considers his friend despite thinking he is crazy. The two escapes from Terrance's driver and after realizing that this happened because of the coin, Alex and Terrance (who is convinced of the truth by Alex) set out to find the coin, enlisting the help of Abby after Alex convinces her they were friends prior to his wish. The three locate the man who gave Stevie the coin, but he was injured without Stevie there to save him and had to close his shop and sold off the coin.

After saying goodbye to Abby, Alex and Terrance are caught by the police and are taken to Alex's home where Terrance's caretaker comes to get him with the intention of covering up his running away. Terrance gets a call from his mother and is excited as he had the best night of his life, but quickly loses his excitement when learns that his mother is getting remarried. Alex and Terrance share a brotherly hug and say goodbye and Alex slips into a depression because he has no chance of returning to his world.

The next day, while Alex is trying to find something on TV that does not remind him of his relationship with Stevie, his father gives him a bunch of old coins he bought to try to cheer him up, but Alex throws them across the room, then discovers that one is the magic coin. Alex gets it, but his shout of excitement frightens his parents due to his emotional state and they decide to break his door down when he refuses to open it. Before they can, Alex wishes that he never made the first wish and wakes up back in his own world with none of it having ever happened. Alex excitedly embraces Stevie and his friends and asks out Abby, who he became attracted to while in the other world, while yelling to a passing Fiona that he is not her boyfriend, and everyone is confused with his excitement. Later, Alex, James and Abby go skating and take Stevie with them and try to teach him to skate. He gives up, but then uses the coin to become a great skater.

## Cast and Characters

* A.J. Trauth as Alex Lansing
* Spencer Breslin as Stevie Lansing / Terrence Russell McCormack
* Lalaine as Abby Ramirez
* Tim Reid as Larry Pendragon
* Peter Feeney as David Carl "Dave" Lansing
* Joshua Leys as Gary
* Sally Stockwell as Pam Lansing
* Ari Boyland as James Cooper
* Emma Lahana as Fiona
* Jay Ryan as Charles
* Jodie Rimmer as Zoe
* Stephen Butterworth as Ronald

## Music

1. "You Wish!" by Lalaine
2. "Now And Again" by Mavin
3. "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton
4. "Life is Good" by Junk
5. "World of Our Own" by Westlife
6. "Follow My Heart" by Reo Speedwagon

## Reception

### Critical Response

Writing for Los Angeles Times, Mark Sachs praised You Wish! for its cast, script, and direction, calling the film "one of the best efforts of the basic cable outfit's original-movie franchise".