Wonder
starring Julia Robert, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Izabela Vidovic, Mandy Patinkin, Daveed Diggs and Sonia Braga,
screenplay by Stephen Chbosky, Steven Conrad and Jack Thorne
directed by Stehen Chbosky
Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
I rented this DVD because I felt in the mood for an Owen Wilson movie. I hadn’t seen Wilson in a film in a long time. When I went to my local shop, this was new on the shelves, so I picked it up on an impulse. Wonder is a comedy-drama about a boy with a genetic facial deformity. It is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by R.J. Palacio.
The film features the story of August “Auggie” Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), born with a facial deformity. To protect him his parents home-schooled him. However, with puberty the decision was made to try to integrate Auggie with other children at school. The school is staffed by wonderful, dedicated, sympathetic and inspirational teachers. You can guess what happens. Children can be extremely cruel. Naturally, Auggie gets bullied, but also discovers friends and academic success. Wonder is an uplifting family story of human decency and of the human spirit successfully rising to higher aspirations.
If one is talking about a movie featuring a character with a facial deformity one unavoidably has to remember Mask, the 1985 movie directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Cher, Sam Elliott and Eric Stoltz, and maybe even Elephant Man, the 1980 movie directed by David Lynch and starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. But whereas Mask and Elephant Man were based on real events, Wonder is based on a novel, on fiction.
Because I rented the film out of interest in watching Owen Wilson, I was a little more interested in watching Wilson and Julia Roberts play Auggie’s parents, Nate and Isabel, than in Auggie himself.