Review of Wonder (2017) by Jaime L — 01 Jan 2019

Some films are primarily made to make you cry, some come out as annoyingly sappy, whilst being stupidly manipulative, but some really walk the surface of how to bring the emotional weight to a film made to make the audience cry. Wonder proudly walks this surface blending comedy with sadness. Firstly, if there was an Oscar for 'Best Performance By Younger Actor', Jacob Tremblay would've easily scooped up that Oscar providing us with not only the best performance by a young actor in 2017 as Auggie, but one of the best performances of 2017 all round. The supporting cast were fine as their roles but it is really the child actors and actresses that steal the show here. I'm still confused as to why Wonder didn't get that much attention at the awards because it is definitely one of the better family movies of 2017 alongside the fantastic Paddington 2, however it cannot reach the heights set by that film. Secondly, Wonder boasts a unique structure which allows the main protagonists to have scenes dedicated to them, whether it's showcases their background stories or telling the audience there feelings toward Auggie. The films works really well as Auggie is a captivating character and you can really feel sympathetic towards him and Jacob Tremblay really brings us the tears making nearly every scene with Auggie emotional.

The ending is perfect and I loved that all the way through the film that all the main characters developed. But the film isn't all sad with some lighthearted funny moments sprinkled nicely around it's run time so that the audience can still get a giggle out of the film. My only problem with the film is that some elements seem rushed and after a while the film suddenly gets rapidly quicker making it feel like it's sprinting to the end. I would of heavily liked if there was one segment that was dedicated to Julian where it shows us his true opinions and thoughts towards Auggie. But, in the end, Wonder is a great family movie which in Jacob Tremblay really shines and shows us that the lady has come a long way since his appearance in The Smurfs 2, the message is powerful even if it has been used before but the rest of the film is very good providing us with great character and story arcs and heartwarming sequences; Wonder is easily one of the most surprising film that I saw in 2017.