Julia Roberts and Jacob Tremblay in a scene from Wonder.
In a family-friendly version of David Lynch's The Elephant Man, director Stephen Chbosky has negotiated the foggy area between trite and truth in this engaging tale of triumph over adversity.
It's been a while between films for Chbosky who gave us the surprisingly good The Perks of Being a Wallflower
back in 2012. His latest outing is an adaptation of R.J. Palacio's best-selling novel Wonder — if you haven't heard of it, your kids probably have.
Wonder tells the story of August Pullman, a 10-year-old boy deformed from birth due to a genetic disorder. Having been shielded from the cruel taunts of the school playground, his homeschooling parents (played by Owen Wilson and Julia Roberts) feel it's time to integrate Auggie into public school life.
The film is rife with harsh realities and tender moments as Auggie (and the people around him) adjust to the change. Jacob Tremblay (Room) does a commendable job of playing the lead and presents a broad range of emotions despite the difficulties of dealing with a ton of facial prosthetic makeup.
Although Auggie provides the film with its narrative momentum, Wonder's strength lies in how his circumstances affect, and ultimately inspire, others; his sister dealing with being the forgotten sibling, the classmates who learn to learn accept him and others who reject him — they all learn important lessons brought about through self-examination.
