Film Review - Wonder (PG)

You can't blend in, when you were born to stand out.

R J Palacio's 2012 novel about a boy with a facial anomaly became a young-adult-lit phenomenon. Small wonder (pun inevitable), because it's a damn good read, wrestling with a powerful subject. All this film adaptation had to do was tell the story in the same forthright way, finding truth in its characters and steering clear of mawkishness. Thankfully, that's exactly what it does for a good 99% of the time. Which makes the other 1% totally forgivable. 

August Pullman (Auggie) is a ten-year-old boy whose face, due to a fluke of genetics, has required numerous surgeries. He still looks markedly different from other kids and shields himself with both a spaceman costume and a headful of Star Wars references. In the galaxy far far away, after all, there's no such thing as 'normal-looking'. Home-schooled up till now, Auggie has agreed to enter the fifth-grade at a New York public school. But for all the encouragement of his family and a benevolent school principal (The Princess Bride's Mandy Patinkin), he can expect no easy ride. Childhood can be a land of cruelty - both targeted and casual.

Several factors raise Wonder well above the level of a Hallmark TV movie. For starters it holds close to the informal tone of Palacio's book, Auggie's quirky but knowing worldview informing all we initially see. The movie embraces the novel's structure as well, drawing on the narrative viewpoints of other young characters. Auggie's sister Via, for example - loved and loving, but inadvertently neglected due to the attention given to her younger brother. Or Jack Will, the young lad drawn to Auggie in friendship, but compromised by peer pressure. Or Miranda, Via's one-time best friend, neglecting Auggie's family due to teen struggles of her own. The result is a patchwork of school and home life representing the myriad struggles of growing up, not least when you're facially different.

The direction is inventive and colourful, the script playful and wise. However it's the performances, more than all else, that sell this story. Jacob Tremblay, who memorably portrayed Brie Larson's son in domestic captivity drama Room, delivers a deeply authentic performance as Auggie. The lad's depth of personality - his quirky humour, his sensitivity, his moments of despair - are conveyed with a conviction that is absolute. You don't simply feel sympathy for this boy, you get to know him as a fully-fledged character.

Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson provide nuanced, empathetic turns as Auggie's parents (Wilson adding welcome humour to the domestic scenes), with Izabela Vidovic's mature portrayal of Via rounding out the family dynamic. And among the other child performances Noah Jupe excels as well-meaning, fallible Jack Will, a boy seeking the courage to act on his better instincts. His recent role as the put-upon son in Suburbicon marks him out as yet another young actor to watch. 

In a film that captures the novel's emotional intelligence, there are a few (and only a few) clunky moments. Overall the drama is natural, the message unforced, with significantly more light and laughter than you might expect. There's pain in Auggie's story - well of course there is. But it's chiefly a story of hope, inspiration and yes, wonder - none of it easily earned, but all of it real.

Gut Reaction: It grabbed me by the tear-ducts from the start - not by being manipulative, just by being human. And it sent me out of the cinema feeling uplifted.

Ed's Verdict: The novel Wonder deserved a good, sensitively handled filmic retelling. I'm glad to say it got one.