Review of Wonder (2017) by Brandon W — 10 Dec 2017

Wonder is directed and co-written by Stephen Chbosky, and it stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay in a drama film about a kid that is going to public school for the first time after being homeschooled for years, and the reason behind that is that August Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) is born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, and so the parents let him into middle school where he can hopefully adapt there.

When I saw that Stephen Chbosky is making another film, I was interested in it as The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of my favorite films, and while this wasn't one of the most anticipated films of the year as there were others that I was looking forward to, I wanted to see this nonetheless.

I went to go see this with my mom and her boyfriend, and we unanimously agreed that we absolutely loved this movie. Jacob Tremblay is very likable in this, and doesn't come off as annoying, but has to put in some emotional moments that are very well done, which is a rarity of a kid that age to succeed in that, especially with the make-up which looks impressive and convincing that the character has to go through.

Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson are great in it that doesn't act in any way embarrassing for the main kid, and they show how much they care about their son given the condition that he's in that'll lead to some problems in school.

The writing by Jack Thorne, Steve Conrad, and Stephen Chbosky is well-written that doesn't go to the easy route of just being melodramatic or emotionally manipulative as it builds up the characters that you end up really like and understand what the main kid and some other characters have to go through that you really do feel for them, especially since my mom and her boyfriend were tearing up a lot during this film and I only got teary-eyed in 2 scenes, so the movie is doing something right for the audience.

The movie goes in perspectives from the son, the sister, or the friend, and it's interesting to watch from their stories to understand the situation from their point of view. So while this is not as good as The Perks of Being a Wallflower due to personal reasons and the fact that this is one of my favorite films, Wonder is still a fantastic movie that's very heartfelt and funny enough that won't make you depressed while watching this.