Produced in conjunction with Centro and China Movie Company, The Secret of the Magic Gourd is based on the children's novel of the same name and follows Raymond Bao (Qilong Zhu), a Chinese boy with a slightly overactive imagination who befriends a magic gourd (voiced by High School Musical's Corbin Bleu) that he catches while fishing. The gourd has the power to make all of Raymond's dreams come true. The combination of Raymond's imagination and the gourd's willingness to grant his every wish leads the two on a wild adventure.
From the outset, The Secret of the Magic Gourd was reminiscent of another Asian creation, CJ7 . Raymond and CJ7's young protagonist, Dicky, are nearly identical, although Raymond's wishes really do come true while Dicky is left with his imagination. Still, despite their vastly different adventures, both end up in the same place and the end message is one that everyone, kids on up to adults, could stand to be reminded of every once in a while. Nothing is truly free and the things worth having are earned.
While the message is clear, the road to that point isn't as clear. The Secret of the Magic Gourd is a very Asian film; the story has a very haphazard feel and odd pacing. Scenes go from one random event to another, similar to most games kids play. One moment Raymond is leading a procession of toys down the street, while the next he's trapped in a movie and running from a dinosaur. This doesn't lend itself to a cohesive narrative and, at times, feels like a hastily put together series of events. Younger kids may not mind since the briskly-paced randomness lends itself well to viewers with short attention spans, but older viewers may lose interest without the solid grounding provided by a cohesive storyline.
The Secret of the Magic Gourd places a lot on the backs of the effects crew, Centro, and for the most part looks great. Most of the CGI looks amazing, in particular a fishing scene where the gourd pulls every fish out of the lake so Raymond can have his pick. However, not all of the CGI is good. Some scenes, like the toys, are just okay, while others have become a little too mundane for most audiences. One of the more disappointing CGI elements is the gourd, which is a little too cartoony and doesn't blend well with the live action elements. Obviously this won't ruin things for a majority of the target audience, but discerning eyes will take notice.
The bonus features are light. "Too Many Toys!" is a simple matching game based around one of the movie's predicaments. Even for the youngest of players, this shouldn't prove to be much of a challenge. Next is a behind-the-scenes feature that is fairly standard fare. The entire feature is presented in Chinese with English subtitles and covers all of the usual production steps, as well as cast and crew interviews and deleted scenes. Finally there's a short fake blooper reel. This is the best of the bunch when it comes to features.
The Secret of the Magic Gourd is something purely for the younger crowd. The random pacing will keep younger kids entertained, but may turn away older viewers, even those who still young at heart.
