Reviewed by: Greg Mueller

Greg's Score:
4.88

Plot/Story

3

Characters

6

Acting

9

Cinematography

5

Production Design

5

Soundtrack

2

Execution

3

Emotional Impact

6


Review:

Wonder is almost exactly what you'd expect it to be, the only difference is that they'll switch to a B-character's POV for fifteen minutes before t hey are inevitably sidelined to focus on the main character again. I guarantee, that if you read the plot synopsis you can predict scene-by-scene 80% of the movie. To get it out of the way, the acting is all fine (some of the tertiary child actors are iffy, but Jacob Tremblay is WONDERful (I promise I'm only going to make that very obvious joke this one time)), the soundtrack is like what you'd hear if Kindergartners ran an independent Seattle coffee shop, and the cinematography and directing are overtly generic. Okay, now I can complain about how Wonder has exactly zero subtlety and every scene is written with a MAC truck of saccharine melodrama. Wonder is obviously a movie that is going to hit a lot of emotions, but there are tons of films about similar issues with equal or greater levels of emotion that don't let the emotions drive the entire movie. Wonder the book was a Middle School age novel, but Wonder the movie feels like it was written for first graders. We don't need every scene to tell us how to feel. I've heard that calling this film manipulative is a cheap declaration, but it is a 100% true criticism. Every character has to have a very black and white sob story to run with and every sob story has to be running at full magnitude. There are no named characters that aren't just dripping with melodrama. Tremblay is an amazing actor, you don't need the script to demand him yell and scream and cry every fifteen minutes; all Tremblay needs is to give us one look and we know what his character is feeling. I hate Julia Roberts, but she is more than capable of conveying her character's emotions without giving her five minutes of lines detailing why she's sad or mad or whatever. Again, it's like they think their audience is just first graders who need to be told how to feel. Anyone older than that is going to feel (at least a little) that this movie is almost condescending and patronizing. Even less good actors in this movie understand how to convey emotion without dialog; we don't need every single character to tell us how they feel so that we know how to feel. There is so much unnecessary melodrama and so many scenes that only function to make soccer moms cry because "What is my little Braxton was born like that? Why are kids so mean?!?". I'm not going to spoil it, but there is a death in the film that serves absolutely zero narrative purpose. It only happens to get a few cheap tears. If you've seen the movie, I guarantee you know exactly what I'm talking about. I also have a huge problem with the multiple perspective element. I do appreciate that we get different view-points, but they give these characters arcs that they have no intention of ending in any sort of fulfilling way. We get fifteen minutes of the main character's sister's former BFF for no reason. Her only importance to the story is to isolate the sister, but Wonder thinks we care about her and want her redemption arc, so they shoe-horn her in for a total of three more minutes at the end. Stop. I just barely became invested in your main character, stop trying to give tertiary characters story arcs. This movie is almost two hour long and it has no right to be. None of the other characters are given enough respect to validate giving them their on POV scenes. I love the sister, but her scenes don't make the movie better, they don't add anything. Wonder has two very large problems, it has no idea how to appropriately write emotional scenes without smacking you in the face with it and they try to give way too many characters things to do and then don't have them do anything worthwhile. I can easily cut out an hour of fluff and dead-end characters in this film. I'm going to say it again, Wonder thinks its audience is stupid and needs to be told how to feel. Anyone beyond first grade can read the scene well enough that you don't need Augie to tell us that he's sad, we can fucking see it on Tremblay's face, just let the actors to their jobs.

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