Wonder

The cinematic word of the year is Wonder.

In 2017, we've had Wonder Woman, Wonderstruck, Wonder Wheel, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women and Wonder. It took forever for me to decide see Wonder, the film version of R.J. Palacio's novel. Now here's the review.

Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) was born with the facial deforming Treacher Collins Syndrome. His face is still disfigured even after numerous plastic surgeries. His parents, Isabel (Julia Roberts) and Nate (Owen Wilson), had him home schooled all his life. But they've decided to enroll him into a normal school this year. A few kids quickly become Auggie's friends, Jack Will (Noah Jupe) and Summer (Millie Davis). Another one, Julian (Bryce Gheisar), is far from friendly. Meanwhile, Auggie's sister Via (Izabela Vidovic) deals with her own issues in high school. They include joining drama club, reconciling with her jaded best friend Miranda, and meeting Justin (Nadji Jeter).

Tremblay as Auggie makes the film work wonders. As in Room, Tremblay's performance is emotional and funny. We can feel for him when the world becomes too much. We can laugh at his many jokes. His incisive narration resonates with the audience even if the audio is screwed up (which happened in my screening). He emotes perfectly through the makeup work, which was most recently shortlisted for Oscar consideration.

The screenplay, which director Stephen Chbosky wrote with Jack Thorne and Steven Conrad, gives plenty of story time to other characters. There are segments to develop Jack, Miranda and Via's perspectives. Jack, for instance, unknowingly taunts Auggie behind his back and it really stings. His segment to redeem himself redeems himself in the audience and Auggie's eyes. With Miranda, we learn about her home life and Via is about her being Auggie's sister. Both girls reconcile when the drama club stages Our Town. Julian grew to be unlikable, but his rich snob parents prove themselves even worse. The most sympathetic side character is Daisy the Dog, whose eventual fate is why I put off seeing the movie so long.

Editor Mark Livosi strings together the segments quite well. His best accomplishment is editing Auggie's fantasy sequences. He daydreams himself a famous astronaut and even counts Chewbacca and Emperor Palapatine as his imaginary friends. The Star Wars characters are pretty funny cameos if you see The Last Jedi and this movie back-to-back. Marcelo Zarvos's score was also fine, though I wish the audio issue was fixed. Don Burgess's cinematography gives us some nice views of New York City and Auggie's fantasy life.

Wonder is a strong family movie. It's poignant for anyone with a disability or a relative of said anyone. Anyone bullied for being different will identify with this movie. Its emotional story is well told with barely any overdone melodrama. You'll certainly identify with its optimistic messages. See it if it's still playing.