The Wishmas Tree: Review
In 2020 alone, cinemagoers all over the world will be treated to so many computer animated films from the US with Onward, Trolls World Tour, Scoob! and many more set to become popular to both domestic and international audiences. And yet it’s very rare to see an animated feature length film coming from Australia, despite some of the country’s studios having success on television screens with hits like Bluey and Bananas in Pyjamas.
Like a Photon Creative attempted to break the mould with The Wishmas Tree, a feature length animated film that recently screened in Australian cinemas and I was fortunate to attend a screening. While the film may not have a UK release set at the time of writing, have the studio created a great title to start the first quarter of 2020 off with a bang?
The film opens up with a beautiful animated sequence to tell of the tale of four Australian creatures and how they banded around the Wishmas Tree to banish the personification of Extinction away from their sanctuary. The surprising bleak storytelling and where the story goes becomes surprisingly complicated in its narrative and we don’t really get much motivation from the hero the moment she starts her journey.
When Kerry the young Ringtailed Possum (voiced by Miranda Tapsell) plucks the last flower from the Wishmas Tree to make her wish of adventure come true, despite warnings from Yarra the wise old lizard (Ross Noble), she brings snow to the tropical Sanctuary City. The journey of Kerry having to go through various locations and obstacles to fix the problem she caused while learning about herself should have been a simple one, but the story does get convoluted with the introduction of another Wishmas Tree, a lack of context for Kerry’s motivation and new characters appearing in the third act. Despite a ninety minute running time, the story feels longer than necessary and the characters are not as relatable or likable to follow their adventure.
After the lovely animated opening, the film transitions to its computer animation world and that is unfortunately when the film starts to lose its appeal to the world and character designs.
The area which surrounds the Wishmas Tree looks pretty good as the team were able to recreate some of the lush plants, leaves and trees that you would see in the tropical rainforests across Australia and with the more simplistic and toy-like designs of the characters, it really stood out. Unfortunately, the rest of the locations lack the detail and care that seemed to have been put into that one location, with some scenes even missing depth and background details that made the world feel empty and lacked depth of expression.
While the designs for the initial cast of characters look adequate enough with the simplistic approach that the animation team went with, the supporting cast of characters don’t stand out as well. Most of the enemies they come across are unimaginative and lack personalities that characters like Kerry and Yarra express and the lack of unique characteristics and some slight changes could have made the whole cast a lot more memorable and appealing, especially with the focus on Australian wildlife.
Despite the potential that the film had with such a focus on Australia and the creatures that inhabit it, The Wishmas Tree was simply a disappointment for me with an over complicated narrative and the animation quality dropping the ball. It’s a shame as I feel that the studio involved could have made a great film, but sadly this turned out to be my first film of 2020 to have left me disappointed.