A Simple Wish
| A Simple Wish | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Michael Ritchie |
| Produced by | Michael S. Glick Jeff Rothberg |
| Written by | Jeff Rothberg |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Bruce Broughton |
| Cinematography | Ralf D. Bode |
| Edited by | William S. Scharf |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28 million |
| Box office | $8,345,056 |
A Simple Wish (also known as The Fairy Godmother) is a 1997 children's-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 8-year-old Annabel (Wilson) fulfill her wish that her father, a carriage driver, wins the leading role in a Broadway musical.
It was the last film from director Michael Ritchie before his death in 2001.
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.
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