Review: Wonder

"When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind." Kindness costs nothing, and yet it seems the most difficult thing for most people to bestow. For someone like ten-year-old Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), kindness is especially important since, whilst he's like any other kid who likes ice cream and playing computer games, he knows he's not an ordinary boy.

Auggie has a rare medical deformity he calls "mandibulofacial dysostosis." Since his birth, he's had 27 surgeries - the hospital wristbands are displayed on a cork board - ones to help him breathe, see, hear without a hearing aid, and even look better. Yet not one of those surgeries have helped make him look ordinary. Home-schooled since birth by his mother Isabel (Julia Roberts), Auggie is about to embark on a tumultuous year as he begins school for the first time.

It's hard enough for any normal child to withstand the challenges of being the new kid in any school, so one can imagine the amplified difficulty for someone like Auggie, who reluctantly takes off his astronaut's helmet with the gentle urging of his father Nate (Owen Wilson). As his parents nervously watch him make his way inside Beecher Prep ("Please make them be nice to him," Isabel prays), Auggie walks past the staring children and imagines himself to be an astronaut being cheered on by well-wishers. It's a heartbreaking moment that is handled with tact and grace in a film that is not without its moments of obvious emotional manipulation.

Though the majority of people Auggie encounters default to teasing and outright bullying, there are supportive figures like kindhearted principal Mr. Tushman (Mandy Patinkin) and English teacher Mr. Browne (Daveed Diggs), whose daily precepts underline the film's overarching themes of goodwill and acceptance. Crucially, there is Jack Will (Noah Jupe), whose friendship with Auggie serves as a boon to the young misfit (the look of relief and gratitude on Isabel's face when she sees the boys walking side-by-side after school is a highlight and a testament to the lasting and impactful power of Roberts' radiance).

Whilst Auggie has his parents and other angels looking out for him, his older sister Via (Izabel Vidovic) has been watching over herself since the death of her grandmother (Sonia Braga) and the cooling of her bond with best friend Miranda (Danielle Rose Russell). Via loves Auggie, but she also understands that he is the sun and they all orbit around him and that her needs shall always be secondary.

The film is sensitive to everyone's plight, an approach which some viewers may find heartening whilst others may deem too neutering. Yet Wonder realises that figures such as school bully Julian (Bryce Gheisar) are capable of remorse and possess mindsets that, like Auggie, are developed by both nature and nurture. Though the film doesn't shy away from sentimentality, it never feels overly mawkish and the emotions feel well-earned as the filmmakers and performers have done an excellent job in mining audience investment in the characters.

The entire cast is uniformly wonderful and whilst Tremblay will deservedly receive the majority of the plaudits, mention should be made of Jupe who, following on his superb performance in this year's Suburbicon, continues to prove himself a young actor to watch.

Wonder

Directed by: Stephen Chbosky

Written by: Stephen Chbosky, Steve Conrad, Jack Thorne; based on the novel by R.J. Palacio

Starring: Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Izabela Vidovic, Mandy Patinkin, Daveed Diggs, Noah Jupe, Sonia Braga