Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Three Thousand Years of Longing review says this rapturous fantasy starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton is everything you wish for in a movie, and more.

Few directors have had as colorful and varied a career as George Miller. The same guy who brought you Mad Max: Fury Road also brought you Happy Feet and Babe. Now he gifts us with Three Thousand Years of Longing, a beautiful and entrancing bedtime story for grownups.

The plot is simple, without being caked up with complicated characters and plot points you’ll never fully grasp unless you’ve read the trilogy or graphic novels.

Tilda Swinton plays a buttoned up academic who specializes in the study of storytelling and narrative, so she knows a thing or two about the cautionary aspect of tales about wishes, as in “be careful what you wish for…”

This comes into play when a genie emerges from a bottle she picked up in an Istanbul bazaar. She is, of course gobsmacked by the djinn’s appearance in her hotel room—he’s played by Idris Elba, after all.

But she’s not foolish enough to randomly blurt out the three wishes the massive genie offers to grant her in order to set himself free.

While she contemplates her many options, the genie tells her the fascinating tales of the 3,000 years he’s spent in and out of the bottle, a la Scheherazade in 1,0001 Nights.

The djinn’s stories are filled with arresting images of wonder and magic. And her thoughtful deliberations are filled with surprises.

If the end is a bit hurried and anti-climactic, that can be forgiven—this film is more about the mercurial magic carpet ride than the destination. And think of the fun you’ll have ruminating on and discussing your won three wishes.

Rated R
1 Hour, 48 minutes

If Lisa Johnson Mandell’s 3,000 Years of Longing review encourages you to grab your magic carpet and fly to the cineplex, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Three Thousand Years of Longing review says that this rapturous fantasy starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton is everything you wish for in a movie, and more.