+ Best Family Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Tearjerker of the Year
 |
| A family of four is at the heart of Stephen Chbosky's Wonder as well as this turquoise poster |
Auggie Pullman is a boy living with a rare facial deformity, whose parents are supporting him to start in middle school after years of home school. But finding his place in an often less than kind world is a challenge for Auggie.
Wonder is the third feature from Pennsylvanian master co-writer-director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), written by Chbosky, Steve Conrad (Lawrence Malm (2004)) and Jack Thorne (War Book (2014)), based on the same-titled children's novel by R.J. Palacio.
Chbosky returns with another moving adaptation of the pains of growing up, again rooted in school life and its tensions, and once again with a plot that uses music well and applies theater positively to its story, in this case by Auggie's big sister's performing in Our Town.
Owen Wilson (Zoolander 2 (2016)) and Julia Roberts (Grand Champion (2002)) are probably cinema's nicest parent couple here since Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock played Thomas Horn's parents in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Both are just great, and they share fun parental interplay here. But the story is really about kids, - not just Auggie, but is structured in chapters around four kids, which is a neat device that broadens the film's scope to insightful effect.
Jacob Tremblay (Room (2015)) is really the film's star, and despite the heavy prosthetics he has to wear here, his instinctual talent gets across freely. The fine cast also includes Sonia Braga (An Invisible Sign (2010)) in a fine scene as a grandmother and Mandy Patinkin (Lulu on the Bridge (1998)) who is well cast and fatherly as the good principal.
The tone is brimming with sentiment from the get-go, and the production is bright and family-friendly, - which also means that the other kids are almost overly photogenic and have issues that are not exactly gritty, - but the film's big and thoroughly sympathetic heart makes these notes redundant.
Wonder sports a message; 'Choose kind', which is as relevant today as it ever was, and which it drives home with touching skill. The lengthier version of it that is promoted in the film is this; when you have the opportunity to choose between doing what's right and doing what's kind, - choose kind. That wisdom also becomes a practical part of the story, which is great. The film should also be commended for also creating sympathy for its mean kid, SPOILER whose internal makeup is shown to have come from somewhere, (flawed parents.)
Wonder is the come-together cinema event for the whole family this season, a noble and great film that speaks equally to kids and adults and which you shouldn't miss.
Related posts:
Stephen Chbosky: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
Top 10: Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - An instant classic
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 220.6 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say - but already a mega-hit
[Wonder premiered 14 November (Los Angeles) and runs 113 minutes. The novel was inspired by Palacio's daughter crying at the sight of a child with a facial deformity. The film was announced in 2012. Tremblay was cast in 2016. His prosthetics took 1.5-2 hours to apply daily and half an hour to get off. Shooting took place in British Columbia, Canada and in New York from July - September 2016. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Justice League, to an overwhelming 27.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 5 impressive weeks (#2-#3-#3-#3-#4). The film has upcoming releases in China, Poland, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, winning hearts and minds where-ever it lands. It has been nominated for a BAFTA. Chbosky is set to return with a romance entitled Prince Charming, and Tremblay returns in Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Wonder is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Wonder?
No comments:
Post a Comment