Wonder Park movie review

MOVIE TITLE:  Wonder Park 

RATING:  PG 

LENGTH:  1 hour 25 minutes 

Movie Review Mom GRADE:  C

IN A NUTSHELL:  When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I rolled my eyes and did NOT want to see it.  It looked super lame and even offensive in parts.  Wonder or blunder?  Well, it’s very creative and colorful, but an annoying mess.  I couldn’t wait for it to end.  The original director was fired towards the end of the movie, which explains a lot, I guess.

I get what the film was trying to do.  It just didn’t do it well.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

• It’s wonderful to see the mom play with her daughter and encourage her creativity.
• A kid mentions he can’t start his day without drinking coffee.
• June does some really dangerous things at the beginning of the movie that causes destruction to her neighbors’ property, but she doesn’t get punished by her parents at all.
• The characters use a lot of big words that young children won’t understand.
• No profanity, although there are made-up words to sound like characters are swearing.
• Some name-calling.
• The film addresses the painful subject of having a very sick parent and the uncertainty of the outcome.

THEMES:

• Creativity and imagination
• “You keep that little light inside you shining bright.” – Mom (Jennifer Garner)
• “You are the wonder.” – Mom
• Fighting against the darkness (loneliness and sadness)
• Don’t be so afraid of something that you lose yourself.
• “Maybe the darkness will always be there. Look at the light that surrounds us.” – June (Sofia Mali)

THINGS I LIKED:

• The cast is delightful with the voice talents of Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick, Sofia Mali, John Oliver, Mila Kunis, Kenan Thompson, Tom Baker, Ken Hudson Campbell, and Ken Jeong.
• Whimsical fun
• I actually laughed out loud when Boomer the bear was running for his life and then instantly fell asleep in hibernation after yelling, “Save yourself!”  Unfortunately, that was the only time I laughed.
• I love that there was a little creature named Cooper. My oldest son’s name is Cooper.
• If your kids like roller coasters, they’ll love the film.
• There are a few musical moments.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

• Why isn’t the movie called “Wonderland”, since that’s what it’s called IN the movie!
• The sickness and sadness have about a five-second montage.  What the what?  I understand that they didn’t want to dwell on it, but if you blink, you miss it and don’t understand what’s happening.
• One of the creatures says, “What the chuck?” as if that’s supposed to be funny. Come on people, if you’re going to create a kid’s movie, don’t encourage our kids to imitate bad behavior or language.  Not funny.  Another creature says, “Such a woman…those ‘Come hither tusks.”  Not cool.  Another creature slaps another creature really hard.  Many times. Stop it already.
• I didn’t like that the villains were cute little monkeys.
• The protagonist wallows in grief.
• The characters are one-dimensional.
• The beavers are constantly smacking each other.
• It seems like an unsuccessful attempt at imitating the successful movie Inside Out (Theatrical).

FUNNY LINES:
* “Oh!  An existential crisis.  I knew this day was missing something.” – porcupine

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@TrinaBoice