A Simple Wish

A Simple Wish is a 1997 American children's-fantasy-comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie, and starring Martin Short, Mara Wilson, and Kathleen Turner. The film is about a bumbling male fairy godmother named Murray (Short), who tries to prove himself capable by helping a young girl named Annabel (Wilson) fulfill her wish that her father, an aspiring actor, wins the leading role in a Broadway musical.

It was the last film from director Michael Ritchie before his death in 2001. It was a commercial failure and received mostly negative reviews from critics though the cast and concept received some praise.

Plot
Carriage driver Oliver Greening aspires to perform on Broadway and, despite an outstanding audition for a new musical based on A Tale of Two Cities, he loses out to the seasoned Tony Sable, who is considered more bankable than the unknown Oliver.

Later that night, Annabel, Oliver's young daughter, does not convince her brother Charlie that fairy godmothers exist, and after they fall asleep, she awakens to find Murray, a male fairy godmother, in her room. Murray, who is treated with disdain for being a man in a female-dominated profession, agrees to grant Annabel's wish that her father get the part so that her family will not have to move to Nebraska, hoping that by doing so he will be taken seriously.

Hortence, the head fairy godmother, oversees the North American Fairy Godmothers Association (NAFGA)'s annual meeting. All participants must turn in their wands so that no trouble occurs. The evil witch Claudia, who was banished from the NAFGA for her selfish use of magic, sneaks in and turns Hortence into paper with a curse. She then steals all the collected wands; Murray arrives late to the conference and does not check his wand in, making it the only one she does not have.

Seeing Murray accidentally left his wand behind in his rush to make it to the conference, Annabel plans to return it to him. However, Charlie breaks it. Annabel glues the broken pieces together and gives it to Murray, only to wind up in Nebraska after the former botches a spell for instantaneous travel. An angry local threatens them, and Murray tries to turn him into a tiny rabbit but instead transforms him into a giant rabbi. Before the giant stomps on them, Murray casts the travel spell again, and they wind up in the Central Park zoo just as Oliver arrives in his carriage with Charlie.

Annabel begs Murray to grant her wish, but he accidentally turns Oliver into a statue. To fix it, the three go to ask Hortence for help, only to find her still under Claudia's curse. While Murray fixes his wand with Charlie's help, Hortence reveals that, in keeping with the rules governing fairy godmothers, Annabel must break Murray's spell by midnight, or Oliver will be a statue forever. Claudia, meanwhile, realizes that Hortense had secretly given her wand to Murray so as to keep her from regaining her full power.

At the theatre, Annabel asks Murray to try sabotaging Sable's audition. First, he tries to make it rain on the stage, but the weak downpour 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. Murray takes this literally, and frogs start hopping out of Sable's mouth, shocking everyone.

Nevertheless, Sable is given the part as the director refuses to wait for Oliver and wants to get the show into production. Boots, Claudia's dog-turned-human servant, finds them. Murray and Annabel trick Boots into taking them to Claudia by begging her not to. Claudia demands that they hand over her wand, and when they refuse, she resorts to torture by enchanting them to dance for her amusement until they are worn out.

Annabel keeps Claudia distracted while Charlie attempts to give Murray the wand, but Boots manages to grab it. Murray then plays on Boots being unhappy with the way Claudia treats her to convince her that he should have the wand instead of her mistress. Claudia attacks him, but Murray tricks her into casting a spell that traps her within her own magic mirror, which he shatters to keep her imprisoned for eternity.

Murray, Charlie, and Annabel return to Central Park and restore Oliver just in time for him to be given the part of Sable's understudy. To grant Annabel's wish, Murray appears backstage and causes Sable to slip on a bucket and twist his ankle. The resulting temper tantrum gets him fired and Oliver, his understudy, takes over. Charlie and Annabel watch the show with Murray and the other fairy godmothers.

Cast

 * Martin Short as Murray: The first male fairy godmother.
 * Mara Wilson as Annabel Greening: Oliver's daughter and Charlie's younger sister.
 * Kathleen Turner as Claudia: A former fairy godmother turned witch who seeks revenge for having her wand taken away.
 * Robert Pastorelli as Oliver Greening: Annabel and Charlie's father who works as a coachman and dreams of becoming a Broadway star.
 * Amanda Plummer as Boots: A dog enchanted by Claudia into a human woman, who serves her mistress loyally despite being pushed around.
 * Francis Capra as Charlie Greening: Oliver's son and Annabel's older brother.
 * Ruby Dee as Hortence: The head of NAFGA.
 * Teri Garr as Rena: Hortence's secretary.
 * Alan Campbell as Tony Sable: A conceited and arrogant actor.
 * Jonathan Hadary as Lord Richard: A playwright and director.
 * Deborah Odell as Jeri: Oliver's agent.
 * Lanny Flaherty as Duane: A motel owner who lives in Nebraska.
 * Jack McGee as Officer York: A police officer that Murray has an encounter with one night.

Reception
Reception to the movie was negative, with Pixelated Geek's Cinerina stating that while the movie's jokes might not appeal to adults, the movie would have appeal for a younger audience. Roger Ebert gave the film one and half stars, saying "When family audiences avoid inspired films like The Secret Garden, The Little Princess and Shiloh, why would they choose a pallid exercise like this?" ReelViews and the Austin Chronicle both reviewed the film, with the Chronicle stating that "The concept's good... But this family film about an incompetent fairy godmother named Murray (Short), is shy several handfuls of fairy dust."

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 25% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10.