Story
Kerry (voice of Miranda Tapsell) is an adventurous ringtail possum who lives in a safe city, protected from the bloodthirsty beasts living in ‘the wild’. But the wild is what she really wants to see.
Kerry makes a wish on the Wishmas Tree. Her wish doesn’t seem to be granted, so she decides to ignore the cautions of Yarra (voice of Ross Noble), the tree’s ancient guardian, and pluck the tree’s last flower to make another wish. Kerry’s selfishness causes a climate shift, and the Wishmas Tree begins to wither and die.
When Kerry sees the suffering she has inadvertently caused, she sets out with Yarra and is soon joined by her cautious sister, Petra (voice of Kate Murphy). Together they journey into the wild to find the first Wishmas Tree so they can wish on another blossom and save the world from the evil forces of extinction.
Along the way they face their fears, encounter creatures just as frightened as they are, become champions for good and learn to believe in the impossible.
Themes
Extinction; segregation; difficult family relationships; possession by an evil force; environmental disasters
Violence
The Wishmas Tree has some violence. For example:
- Lizards describe bloodthirsty beasts who’ll devour anyone and who use bones as toothpicks.
- A bird is electrocuted and drops into some mud.
- There is repeated hitting and whacking, a little bear is smashed with a bat, and menacing wolves appear to attack and kill Yarra.
Sexual references
None noted.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None noted.
Nudity and sexual activity
None noted.
Product placement
None noted.
Coarse language
The Wishmas Tree has some name-calling. For example, characters are called ‘boring’, ‘annoying’, ‘slowpoke’ and ‘stupid’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Wishmas Tree is an animated adventure featuring several dark and violent scenes. Because of these scenes, the movie is most suitable for families with slightly older children.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- We’re stronger when we’re together.
- We’re never too old to believe in magic.
- It doesn’t matter that we make mistakes – the important thing is how we fix them.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include courage, loyalty, responsibility, unity, justice and forgiveness.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like:
- selfishness and the consequences of putting your own desires ahead of everything else
- recklessness and the consequences of taking dangerous risks for the sake of adventure
- community segregation and the consequences of letting fear stop you from looking after everyone’s best interests
- the negative effect that we’re having on natural environments and the importance of trying to reverse the damage we’ve done.