Wish Upon

Wish Upon is currently streaming in Australia on Amazon Prime Video, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video and Hulu, and it earns its premise rather than just borrowing genre trappings. The runtime earns every minute, with nothing here that feels like padding. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Joey King anchors it with a performance that grounds the bigger ideas in something human. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Amazon Prime Video.

Wish Upon arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Wish Upon treats its concept seriously enough to follow it all the way through. A teenage girl discovers a box with magical powers, but those powers comes with a deadly price. Joey King and Ki Hong Lee lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2017. Wish Upon resists the temptation to explain everything, trusting the audience to sit with ambiguity. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Sci-fi fans who want ideas alongside the spectacle will find Wish Upon genuinely rewarding. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Joey King anchors it with a performance that makes the more abstract moments feel personal. If you have been burned by ambitious sci-fi before, this is the exception.