the tension between the seriousness of his problem and the naivete with which he approaches it is a source of much drama in the film, but it's also part of why I Wish doesn't reach the heights it's capable of
the message is un-American, too-that it's wiser to make peace with the world into which you've been thrust than spend your time wishing for a better one
tends toward the vaporous and not just because of its volcano; but whenever its children are on screen, lighted up with joy or dimmed by hard adult truths, the film burns bright