Wonder (***)

WONDER is a dead-centered drama about a disabled boy growing up and beginning his first year in school. He is born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, with the results being a malformed face and frequent trips to the hospital. I say dead-centered because the film does little in terms of taking chances or exploring the world it has set up. It's surely an entertaining movie, but there is much more I wish they would have explored.

Jacob Tremblay is the talented boy who played Jack in Room a couple years back. He's a child actor of talent and skill. His character, "Auggie," is a shy boy who wears a space helmet to hide his deformity. He's excited to leave his home-schooling regimen (led by his mother, Julia Roberts) and yet fearful to start - also probably based on his mother's trepidations. His first day goes as expected: a couple bullies, a lot of staring, and pointed questions about his personal life. He makes a friend or two over the first few months, and little by little he begins to open up.

I suppose it's a similar basic concept to a movie like "Mask" or "Jack" where a boy has trouble fitting in at school and then eventually finds a way to fit in. The structure takes an interesting approach in the way it breaks down into chapters covering each of the main characters' lives. We have Auggie, then a section about his sister Via and her boyfriend, then Jack Will, Auggie's main friend... The idea is clever in the way we can explore all the lives effected by such a simple disease, but at the same time the movie doesn't seem too invested and eventually the sequences mostly fall flat. There's a great deal of time spent on Via and her failing friendship to her best friend, but little comes in the way of payoff that gives that section closure. They are scenes led by good actors, but does the movie even care about these kid at all?

In the end, the film doesn't offer much in terms of a conclusion, it just kind of stumbles across a finish line. Imagine a movie about a sad child who finds the courage to make friends and accept his disease. How do you think such a film might end? You're probably right. We have good actors here (Julia Roberts is especially heartwarming, her husband played by Owen Wilson is a curious choice) but in the end the movie plays it safe. It's without a doubt an emotional film, and you might get a little teary-eyed while watching it. Beyond that, the story is simply adequate.