I’m going to give a brief premise of 16 Wishes, the movie. 16 Wishes is about a teenage girl named Abby Jensen, who has a list of what she wants for her 16th birthday. Her plans for her birthday party go awry when wasps infest her house. Abby is at a loss until she opens a package that was personally delivered to her. Abby’s best friend, Jay, is reluctant for her to open the package, but Abby decides to open it anyway. Inside, they find a box of 16 candles. After her first wish comes true, they both realize that all the wishes on her list can come true.
After Abby’s house gets infested, didn’t Abby find it questionable that a stranger only gave her the list and didn’t try to salvage other, more important items for the family? Why didn’t the parents question Celeste?
Now, let’s get on with the movie review/commentary. After Abby makes her first wish, her celebrity crush appears, and Joey walks up to Abby and gives her a kiss on the cheek. I have some issues with this scene. Throughout the movie, Abby describes the kiss as if Joey kissed her on the lips. While I understand that having your favorite celebrity give you a kiss on the cheek as a teenage girl is a big deal, Abby makes this moment sound like Joey kissed her on the lips. Another issue is that after Joey kisses Abby, he suddenly looks confused, but the movie doesn’t explain why. That scene felt odd, especially when he says nothing. Joey doesn’t even explain why he’s in the neighborhood. I just think this scene would have worked better if Joey had a little more dialogue in that moment.
I did not like that there was very little explanation about Celeste, who is supposedly Abby’s fairy godmother. Celeste left me with a lot of questions: Does Celeste do this for other 16-year-old girls who need a life lesson? Even if Celeste only does this for Abby, why doesn’t the movie explain what makes Abby’s character special? Why can’t anyone except Abby and Jay remember what Celeste looks like, even though she appears around them multiple times?
When Jay asks Celeste who she is, Celeste basically just says her name and then says something like, “I’m here to make her dreams come true.” It would make more sense if she were a fairy granting wishes, but instead, she comes across as a stranger who suddenly shows up in a teenager’s life to give her everything she wants in exchange for a valuable lesson. Just because you play magical music in the background doesn’t mean this character isn’t creepy. I agree with Jay: “WELL, THAT EXPLAINS PRETTY MUCH EXACTLY NOTHING.” I can see this movie turning into a horror film with Celeste as the villain. Jay asks the right questions about Celeste’s identity (whether she is a magical being), but we still don’t get any information. She just quickly agrees that she’s a magical creature and appears annoyed when confronted. Yet, Jay is gaslit into accepting these important questions without getting any answers.
After Celeste drops Abby and Jay off at school, Abby strikes this weird pose with her leg when she invites the popular kids to her party. Now I see why the popular kids were laughing. It’s not just in this movie—Debby Ryan has a tendency to make strange poses, like in The Suite Life on Deck and Radio. Not to be mean, I like Debby Ryan, but she does often make unusual physical movements that seem like a jerk reaction.
Abby ends up getting in trouble for lighting matches at school. When she went to retrieve the matches, I noticed that the “fairy” seems passive-aggressive with everyone and appears to be solely focused on Abby. It gives off more of a stalker vibe, especially since Celeste has never actually said she’s a fairy. When Celeste gave Abby Krista’s diary, it seemed mean-spirited and only worsened the divide between Abby and Krista. I thought Celeste’s true intention was to teach Abby a valuable lesson, but it almost seems like Celeste has ulterior motives.
When Abby reads Krista’s diary, she confronts Krista about her obsession with competing against Abby. During this confrontation, it seems like Krista has hidden feelings for Abby, since she is so invested in ruining Abby’s life. It almost appears that Krista is more interested in Abby than in Logan, as she seems to be trying hard to cause tension between them.
Before the volleyball competition, Abby delivers a wordy line that goes, “…I will beat Krista at something, anything, everything,” instead of simply saying, “…I will beat Krista at everything.” I’m getting the sense that this movie is purposefully using outlandish phrases to fill time rather than making the plot make sense. Anyway, when the volleyball competition begins, why is Abby so surprised when the ball hits her? (1) The game has started, and (2) she wasn’t paying attention because she was overly confident about winning. I know Abby has the power to beat Krista, but how in the world did she jump so high to make that play? I’m not an expert in volleyball, but how did Abby win with just one shot when the other team had already scored a point? Plot hole, anyone?
After the volleyball game ended, Abby miraculously won student body president. Also, doesn’t it usually take weeks, or maybe months, for people to elect a student body president, regardless of whether one person wins? How did she win in just one day? The pacing of the film is strange. We don’t see how the candles made Abby qualified for student body president, and Jay was right to call her out on why she is wrong for the job.
After Abby and Jay go out for lunch, Jay takes Abby dress shopping. While Abby was trying on clothes, it didn’t make any sense when the lady at the clothing store acted like Abby and Jay were being loud and disruptive, when all they were doing was looking for clothes that were best for Abby, like any other customer would do. It was odd that the store lady suddenly became mean to them for no apparent reason.
Here’s what really twists my mind: Abby makes a wish for people to stop treating her like a kid, but this wish creates an alternate universe where Abby was born 6 years earlier than in her original timeline. Also, if this is a different universe, why does Abby still have a picture of her and Jay if they supposedly never met in this timeline? Celeste’s explanation of how the candles have a mind of their own doesn’t make sense. If Abby and Jay never met, then how does Jay still have the keychain? Does this movie even make sense?
I did like the scene where the parents talk about how Abby was in such a rush to grow up, only to realize that being an adult isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As an adult now, I can definitely relate to the movie, because as a kid, I assumed that in order to gain respect, I needed to be an adult. After watching the movie, I realized that respect is earned regardless of age, and that should have been the moral of the story. Small note: Even if this is a fictional world, why on earth would her parents stay outside of their house for all those years without moving?
After Abby wished for everything to start over, she gives money to her brother Mike, who had never played an actual guitar. All Mike does is play a soundless toy guitar while making beatboxing noises. The only thing we know is that he’s good in a different timeline, but that’s not guaranteed in Abby’s timeline. I agree with the mother’s disbelieving look when Abby tells her brother, “I think you’re really talented.” At the end of the film, Mike is apparently a talented singer, so did Abby give him the money for nothing? What do you think?
One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Abby confronts Krista, and Krista confesses that Abby “stole” her best friend on Krista’s birthday. I feel like these girls should not be mad at each other; they should be mad at Jay. I can’t stress enough how Jay ditched Krista—he wasn’t stolen. Abby is only mad at Krista for constantly competing with her. I’m surprised Jay didn’t face any consequences for his actions after Abby and Krista talked through the reasoning behind their feud. I feel really bad for Krista, and Jay is just awful. Why are they not confronting him?
Abby and Jay’s kiss scene didn’t pay off. The pacing of the movie was poorly done, as it felt like each scene was crammed in without proper development. We never saw Abby develop romantic feelings for Jay. They shared one tender moment together and then ended up kissing at the end of the film. There was no moment where Abby reflects on whether she has feelings for her best friend. We see her reflect on how bad of a friend she was to Jay, but that’s it. She didn’t find it questionable that her male friend gave her a heart-shaped necklace, and it was frustrating how unaware she was of his feelings. My theory is that his feelings for her were a childhood crush that never went away, and he hoped to win her over after years of friendship. Abby took Jay for granted as a friend (she kept rejecting his offer to have her party in his basement, which could have saved her party), and I highly doubt a relationship between them would have changed her behavior.
As for the music, it was okay. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed listening to Debby Ryan’s song and could definitely party to it, but I regret to say that the music was mostly forgettable.
To conclude, the pacing of the film could have been better if it had lasted another 30 minutes to fill in the gaps that were left unanswered. This is a feel-good movie, mostly for nostalgic reasons. As a girl, I was excited by the concept of having all my wishes come true in real life. I’m sorry, I still found myself bopping to Debby Ryan’s songs after the movie ended because of the nostalgia.
RATING: 3.5 OUT OF 10 STARS ⭐⭐⭐_ _ _ _ _ _ _