Movie Review: 'Chasing Wonders' is... Fine

Chasing Wonders stars Michael Crisafulli as Savino, a young Spanish born boy who is growing up in Australia. Savino’s family is in the wine business and some unspoken falling out led to Savino’s father, Felipe (Antonio De La Torre), to leave Spain and bring his family to Australia where they’ve continued making and selling wine. Savino’s family includes his mother, Adrianna (Paz Vega), his grandfather, Luis (Edward James Olmos), his grandmother, (Carmen Maura), his Uncle (Jarin Towney), and Janine (Jessica Marais), the Uncle’s sexy girlfriend.

They all live together under one raucous roof and share dinners together on a regular basis, though much to the chagrin of Felipe. As we join the story, Savino is celebrating a birthday and his loving grandfather, and best friend, has a special gift for him. The gift is a beautiful brass telescope, one that looks vintage and valuable. This leaves Felipe angry as he feels that his wife’s parents are showing him up and disrespecting him by giving Savino a better gift than he can afford.

This not only sets off a rift between Felipe and the grandparents but between Felipe and most of the family. Felipe appears to take most of his frustrations over his life out on his family. He’s not abusive, per se, but he’s prone to anger and directs that frustration toward the people he loves. Some of this comes from a long untended grief that Felipe has wrestled with since he was a child and his younger brother was killed while they were playing.

Savino has begun to remind Felipe of his long dead brother with his boundless spirit and striving. Felipe’s desire to protect his son becomes over-protection and a wedge is driven deeply between father and son. The wedge goes deeper after a defiant Savino runs off into the Outback with a friend seeking a mystical rock that his Grandfather has created a legend around. After finding the rock, Savino’s friend is nearly killed in a fall and after Felipe finds them and helps to rescue the friend, he’s even more convinced of his need to keep Savino safe. This includes taking his telescope and telling the grandparents to move out as Felipe believes Grandpa is responsible for Savino’s reckless behavior.

In a rather underwritten subplot the movie jumps into the future where we meet an older

who has traveled to Spain to reconnect with the family his father left behind. This plot doesn't really go anywhere. Savino is not a particularly fleshed out character as an adult and thus, thought the Spanish setting is lovely, the movie is merely spinning its wheels as this subplot plays out.

There is nothing terribly wrong with Chasing Wonders; it is just rather bland and meandering. The plot feels perfunctory, a father learns to deal with grief, a son comes to understand the heartache of his father and love of family is reaffirmed. It’s a warm hearted movie with a reasonably good message and nothing terribly offensive. That said, being reasonably good and inoffensive can also be rather boring and Chasing Wonders definitely pushes toward boredom throughout its mere 86 minute run time.

The best parts of Chasing Wonders are the parts that are mostly off-screen. Edward James Olmos has a wonderfully mischievous look in his eye and his charm flies off the screen. Sadly, he has that movie affliction, a cough that indicates that death is near. Olmos is gone from the movie far too quickly and with him, much of the fun of Chasing Wonders. Then there is the brilliant Paz Vega. I was told that Paz Vega is the star of Chasing Wonders but the reality is that she is barely there. Her beauty, warmth, and charisma are sorely missed while she’s off screen and her chemistry with Antonio De La Torre is lacking to the point that it is hard to understand how they ever ended up together.

Chasing Wonders will be available for on-demand rental on Friday, November 19th. It’s a family movie with beautiful settings in Australia and Spain. It has a nice message and a sympathetic story but not a lot of excitement behind it. If you are looking for something to have on in the background while you do other things, you could certainly do worse than Chasing Wonders but it is not one I recommend if you plan on sitting down alone for a movie night.

Just one last note, it's a minor nitpick but it annoyed me nevertheless. The kid gets a telescope and I thought, since they have no neighbors for miles, that perhaps avoid the typical have telescope become a pervert trope. I especially thought this because this a family movie and the character is 12 years old. But, nope! The movie indeed has a spying on people having sex or getting undressed scene as we have to see the Uncle and Sexy Girlfriend getting down. Why? I don't know, because no one can think of anything to do with a telescope that isn't this apparently.