Wonder isn’t a movie; it’s a war of attrition on cynicism.
Everything about the film is built to elicit maximum sympathy. It’s constructed as a full-blown assault on your heart, hammering away at your emotions with reckless abandon. It aims to bypass your jaded, overly-critical mind and land squarely in your gooey feels.
Wonder isn’t necessarily a tearjerker, but it comes from the same overarching genre of Emotional Typhoons ™. It’s a megaton bomb of emotional manipulation. There may be a degree of cynicism on the filmmakers part as they calculatedly reach for audience investment with every trick in the book, but it’s hard to argue with their results. Wonder is a minor, flawed, but surprisingly satisfying film, the kind of small-scale picture that’s perfect for the holiday season.
Jacob Tremblay (the wunderkind from Room) plays Auggie, a 10-year-old with severe facial deformities. His parents (Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson) have home-schooled him for his entire life, but the time has come for him to get a public education. He has to overcome his shyness and people’s natural aversion to him and attempt to fit in. In the meantime, his sister struggles with a different set of problems in high school. That’s about all there is to it. It’s a humble movie with a humble story. No frills and nothing fancy.
Wonder works best when it sticks to its slice-of-life roots. Scenes of Auggie sitting alone at lunchtime, playing video games, or role-playing as a Star Wars character carry weight due to their sense of realness. Auggie’s sister’s subplot in high school also contains several nice moments of honest teenage life that resonate. At its best, Wonder portrays a charming world based on lived-in experiences.
Unfortunately, Wonder doesn’t always play to its strengths. Director Stephen Chbosky will often crank the schmaltz levels off the charts, flooding the screen with angelic lighting and on-the-nose pop music. The score can be overbearing, pumping simple scenes up into ridiculous melodramas. Several dream sequences drag on for too long. Wonder will sometimes try too hard to dig the tears out of its audience instead of naturally earning them.
The film also betrays its humble plot at times. A bullying subplot and an overextended third-act fight scene try to inject unneeded human villainy into the story. Wonder is a film that doesn’t need a personified antagonist; it’s about a child with a major deformity trying to navigate life. There’s enough natural drama built into the premise. Wonder would’ve been stronger if it had stuck to its guns and stayed grounded.
The acting is solid across the board. Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson don’t bring much to the table, but their performances are solid enough for their handful of scenes. Tremblay is, naturally, excellent as Auggie. He brings real heart to the character and makes him more than a prop. But the true star is Izabela Vidovic as Auggie’s sister. She has an innate star power and she elevates her character past high-school stereotype. Her acting is so strong one almost wishes she were the lead character.
Wonder is cheesy, cloying, and too sentimental for its own good. But it succeeds in its goal of clawing its way into an audience’s heart. It’s a slight movie, but thanks to good actors and a (mostly) grounded story, it’s an enjoyable one.
