Wonder Blu-ray Review
Mask 2?
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, February 9, 2018
Wonder joins a small but interesting group of films like
The Elephant
Man and
Mask that deal at least in part with characters with either
facial or cranial disfigurements, and how the appearance of these characters (obviously) affected how they were treated by "normal" people out in
the big, wide world. Both
The Elephant Man and
Mask were based on real life stories, with the cause of
The Elephant
Man's Joseph Carey Merrick's symptoms still not officially diagnosed (though it's presumed he suffered from something called Proteus
Syndrome), and with
Mask's Rocky Dennis' problems caused by something called craniodiaphyseal dysplasia. Unlike those two other
films,
Wonder is a work of fiction, though it deals with a real life disease known as Treacher Collins Syndrome, a genetic mutation that
causes abnormalities in the face and skull that can range from moderate to severe.
Wonder is in some ways at least kind of like
Mask: The Younger Years in that it documents the travails of a little boy named August "Auggie" Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), a sweet kid
whose potentially scary appearance and need for recurrent surgeries has led to him being home schooled by his mother Isabel (Julia Roberts). At
least somewhat like
Mask's Rusty Dennis (played by Cher), Isabel wants her son to be able to matriculate into a normal school
environment, which leads to Auggie being subjected to the perhaps predictable bullying by other kids. Also like Rocky in
Mask, Auggie is
seen as mentally deficient by some, while it's perfectly clear to anyone who takes the time to actually
interact with the little boy that he is
in fact enormously intelligent and kind of inherently (and, due to his "issues", probably unavoidably) plucky.
Wonder doesn't really break
any new ground as it attempts, and frankly succeeds, in tugging rather vigorously at the heartstrings.
Wonder goes for "major lump in throat" territory literally from the get go, with voiceover by Auggie that documents this preternaturally
sweet little boy's desire to do what virtually
every kid everywhere wants to — fit in. Auggie is no dummy, however, and realizes his
appearance presents an immediate and daunting obstacle, which may be at least one reason why he prefers to tool around in a giant NASA helmet
(his love of outer space doesn't hurt, either). One of the thing that
Wonder makes abundantly clear, and which some jaded viewers may
find
treacly or maudlin, is that Auggie and his family are all
good people — as in
reaaaallllly good people.
Despite having home schooled Auggie for years, Isabel is no over protective helicopter parent, and in fact it's Dad Nate (Owen Wilson) who voices
the
most vivid objections to the thought of Auggie matriculating to a "regular" (albeit private and
very tony) school (where Mandy Patinkin
plays the kind of headmaster who is kind, nurturing and all knowing). Everyone, including older
sister Via (Izabela Vidovic) and Auggie himself, have no rose colored glasses on as to what waits in store for this weird looking kids in the wild and
wooly world of middle school, but these are
good people, and in the world of
Wonder, good
always triumphs (another
aspect to the film which may chafe on the sensibilities of "realists").
Auggie encounters the expected difficulties at school, chiefly from trust fun kid Julian (Bryce Gheishar). But interestingly probably the film's most
devastating emotional moments come from a supposed betrayal by Auggie's ultimate best friend in school, Jack Will (Noah Jupe). But, again,
Wonder repeatedly delivers the perhaps unbelievable message that deep, deep down
everyone is basically good, despite
occasional missteps. Jack makes a mistake that he's sorry for, and he repents. Via's best friend Miranda (Danielle Rose Russell) makes a mistake
of her own (a really
weird mistake, it might be added) that
she's sorry for, and she repents. Even bratty Julian goes too far, and
even though his brainless parents (who evidently also lack empathy genes) are boorish,
he is sorry and repents. Where is the
villain in this piece? (That's said with tongue planted firmly in cheek, in case it's not clear.)
Aside from all this overwhelming goodness,
Wonder has a few other hurdles that some viewers may have occasional issues with.
Structurally, the film is a bit on the odd side, segueing from narrator to narrator and supposedly from point of view to point of view (along with a
few of what I'd cheekily call "
Rashomon lite" moments where certain
incidents are revisited from different perspectives), something that gives the film a kind of hodgepodge quality at times. There is at least one
glaring (to me, anyway) logical lapse with regard to Miranda's subterfuge (her sudden popularity is based on a lie that seemingly all of her friends
in common with Via would already know about). But all of this falls by the wayside in the immense gravitational pull of this film's heart. With eyes
as expressive as Julia Roberts' are, and with so many scenes where Isabel supports her son basically with little more than a loving gaze and a
fierce hug, this is a film that is all about feeling and where little elements like logic or narrative consistency tend not to matter all that much.
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