Joey King and Mitchell Slaggert star in a scene from the movie "Wish Upon." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Broad Green Pictures)

By Catholic News Service

Low-budget Faustian fable has a teen girl (Joey King) coming into ownership of a Chinese “wish box” that can grant her seven wishes, enabling all her dreams of wealth and popularity to come true — but at the price of grisly deaths for all the friends and relatives she holds dear.

Director John Leonetti and screenwriter Barbara Marshall make the best of what they have, but each plot point and their resolution are telegraphed so blatantly, there’s no suspense, and the lead character is not so much morally bereft as she is dimwitted.

Fleeting gore, fleeting rough language. Catholic News Service classification, A-III — adults. Motion Picture Association of America rating, PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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