Review: All Wishes Come True! is a heavenly heist movie, and so much more

All Wishes Come True! is the latest animated megahit from China to make it to US shores, and it's maybe the ultimate "guys being dudes" movie. Here we have a rag-tag group of thieves, liars, scammers, and ne'er-do-wells, ranging from a baby to an old man, putting their differences aside to try to pull of a major heist. If that's not being a dude, then I don't know what is.

Based on a story from Chinese folklore called The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, All Wishes Come True! is a total delight. I don't know the original story, but based on the title alone, I have to imagine this is a pretty original spin on it, since the eponymous eight immortals don't do any sea-crossing until quite late in the movie's considerable run time (it clocks in at two hours and fifteen minutes). Instead, we spend most of the movie on the sacred island of Penglai, which is the home of many gods and immortals (as well as plenty of mortals, too). It's a safe haven in a world plagued by hardship, and the people there live in a state of general prosperity and peace, since the gods have a job to do: granting the wishes of the citizens.

It is weirdly hard to find stills of this movie online...

It's a gorgeous setting for our adventure. The whole island rests on the back of a gigantic tortoise, and there are mid-air streams of water on which various boats and such traverse. It's the kind of place you want to get lost in. (Also the kind of fantastic setting where I wish there were a video game tie-in so I could explore at my own leisure.)

Penglai is of particular interest during the course of the film because the larger world is currently under the threat of the Doomsmite, a cataclysmic event that can occur every so often if there isn't divine protection in place to ward it off. Said divine protection currently exists in the form of a mystical lantern which wards off evil, a lantern that has unfortunately recently gone missing. This missing lantern has led Lü Dongbin to Penglai: he has intel that the lantern is somewhere on the island, specifically in the heavily-guarded vault of the gods Fu, Lu, and Shou (the gods of fortune, prosperity, and longevity, respectively).

Lü Dongbin crosses paths with Zhongli Quan, a consummate thief who used to be his classmate at a school where they trained to be immortals. Over the course of the film, we learn why Zhongli Quan was banished from the school, what part Lü Dongbin played in those events, and what's going on at the school now. At so many turns in All Wishes Come True!, I was surprised at the breadth and depth of the storytelling. Sure, this is a long-ish movie, but it makes the most of every moment, filling each scene and sequence to the brim with interesting character details, exciting action, great jokes. This is supremely generous filmmaking, one that gives you glimpses into so many cool corners of its world.

Lü Dongbin and Zhongli Quan hatch the plan to break into the gods' vault, the former with his eye on the lantern and the latter on the huge amount of gold that also resides there. Their scheme: buy an unused nearby temple, then dig a tunnel up through the mountain into the vault, through which they can carry their treasures. Problem number one: to own a temple, you have to be an immortal, which they aren't. So, they lie. They pose as immortals and set off to the bureau where godly affairs are handled in an attempt to get their hands on that temple.

Through various events, their gang ends up growing to seven members (and eventually, eight), a true murderers' row of misfits and rogues. The film does a fantastic job of introducing the various characters and making sure they all have moments to pop and shine, even as Lü Dongbin and Zhongli Quan are very much the main event. It's such a pleasure watching them all figure out how to make the scheme work, especially with an additional wrinkle, which the film's title nods to. As the "immortal" purveyors of a temple, they are required to grant any wishes that are made there. Obviously, they're hoping to keep people away so as to not have to deal with wishes, but as you might guess, that's not how things go down. To great comedic effect.

As the story progresses, it becomes a veritable buffet of genres: it has dramatic swaths of backstory, lots and lots of great comedic beats, the whole heist scenario unfolding, and some truly haw-dropping action sequences. Here is a movie that never feels the need to pigeonhole itself or hone in too much on one thing or another: it's confident enough to go after every storytelling whim it catches a whiff of, and it consistently connects. It's a thrill ride of a movie, one that's rich in character and full of surprises, including an extended cameo of a certain titan of Chinese folklore (yes, exactly who you're thinking of). The action finale is one of the most dynamic scenes I've seen in any movie this year: the characters all get their hands on magical artifacts as they team up against the Big Bad, and the fight choreography is creatively staged and perfectly executed.

All Wishes Come True! is everything you want from a movie of this kind, a full-throated and -bodied bit of entertainment that doesn't hold anything back. If it goes on maybe a bit too long, it's easy to forgive, because it's such a gorgeous, exciting, and generous blockbuster. How could I begrudge it letting me spend more time with these characters I've grown to love so much?