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Wonder Review

Wonder-ful-ish?

By MoCo LopezPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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Shorter days, cooler weather, and holiday tunes over the radio inevitably announce the arrival of the season of feel-good. Hallmark drops sappy romance twenty-four hours a day and a slate of new family-friendly blockbusters does battle across blinking marquees with stories of family, love, and triumphs of the human spirit. In the feeding frenzy at the Disney/Rom-Com buffet, it can be difficult to choose between high octane action, soaring emotions, and camp-filled comedies. Studios know this, and the airwaves are inundated with previews and ads for the holiday movie selection. Because of this, it is borderline astounding when a movie can sneak onto the end of the now showing list with little fanfare or warning. Wonder, a film about a genetically disfigured young boy who has come of age and must strike out into the world of traditional schooling, came to my attention through a prime-time TV spot. According to my notes, only one of the nine films I had seen leading up to this had included a preview for Wonder. Between the generic trailer and sparse marketing strategy, one could be forgiven for missing the release of the film altogether.

Wonder follows Augie Pullman, his family, and friends as he moves from homeschooling to a traditional school environment. A treacherous endeavor at the best of times, Augie's transition is further complicated by a face which bears the obvious signs of his atypical genetics and resulting surgeries. From the opening seconds of the film, it sets off on the well-worn coming-of-age-in-the-face-of-great-adversity path. The narrated introduction very aptly sets the tone for the film; emotional, intelligent, reflective, and trying too hard. In this first speech, Augie's narration over a montage of youthful activities goes out of its way to reference things “real kids really do” like love Star Wars and Minecraft. This moment feels like a pandering “fellow kids” situation, where Wonder is desperate to make sure we remember Augie is a real child despite the fact it's only 30 seconds into the film and we have no reason to doubt it. While this is a cosmetic and largely irrelevant annoyance in the grand scheme of the film, it is just the first of many instances where the film unfurls its plumage to remind us is a true to life, serious film.

Another principle way that the film tries to dress up its workforce plot is by pimping out a nonlinear time-line in order to manufacture complexity. Used properly, a nonlinear time-line highlights the arcane lines between people and moments and presents a novel, rich understanding of the events that have unfolded. In Wonder, however, these time-line shifts feel more like lazy transitions or outright filler. The first big time-line shift is when it doubles back to demonstrate how Augie's needs affect the life of his sister Via. The transition to Via's perspective is jarring and artless —they just watch the screen in black, show her name, and then take us back to the film's first events. Via's story is a functional addition to that of Augie, but the real shame is Via's one-dimensional character. She comes right out of the teen girl coloring book, yearning for attention from her parents or friends or boyfriend. Her emotions fall and then swell again as she loses and gains attention but at no point does she manage to have personality or growth of her own. This flatness of character stands out even more in a year that has been led by a selection of strong diverse female characters. Despite its shortcomings, Via's story remains one of the stronger points of the film, reminding the audience that everyone has scars even if they are not worn on the outside.

The other auxiliary layers of story that are presented through time shifts do not stand up as strongly. For example, Jack Will's contextual cutaways most distantly of filler—we already know that he is on scholarship and that he wasn't enthusiastic about giving Augie's tour of the school. Why, then, must we watch him have breakfast with his mother and then salvage a sled out a trash to reinforce these points. The film does a good enough job characterizing Jack in the film, so the story retreading these points feels like Wonder must just think were too stupid to find the clues ourselves. When the film follows Isabel, Augie's mother played by Julia Roberts, the story that unfolds is too tidy. She is sad at first, but from one moment to the next she has found itself back into the Masters thesis that she has started 10 years ago. Not only is this unbelievable, but it is a tantalizing invitation to take a meaningful look at the character. Extraordinary parenting is clearly an overwhelming time commitment which becomes not only Isabel's identity but also her daily life. The transition out of this situation must be a whirlwind of emotions, but the film passes on any exploration and is instead content for Isabel to flip the switch and fly seamlessly back into her work. Via's friend Miranda and Augie's father also get 1 to 2 scenes each of exposition that do nothing more than reinforce the one-dimensional surface level characterizations that already exist.

Wonder delivers a fully realized journey to our screening room. A young and disfigured boy, though sheer force of his own humanity and innocence, brings out the best in those around him. Even the bully breaks under the wise stare of the Principal (played by Mandy Patinkin). The individual performances are acceptable, the music generic but functional. The film even manages to dress up its stalwart vehicle with genuine humor. It's a slightly above average feel-good film, which clearly wants to be more. Unfortunately, despite the structural grandstanding at heart string plucking, viewers who decide to ask the real questions posed by the film will be left wondering.

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About the Creator

MoCo Lopez

Aspiring writer, amateur moviegoer, and professional opinion-haver.

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