Wonder Park is a new Paramount Studios animated movie that is so beautifully animated and has such a heart-touching story, you’ll think it’s Pixar. This makes sense as it was made by former Pixar animator Dylan Brown. The voice cast sports names like Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, and Mila Kunis.
Wonder Park is about a creative little girl dealing with her mother getting cancer. Her mom had always been extremely close with her and, together, they created the amazingly imaginative Wonder Park. The park is ran by animals, including a monkey, a warthog, and a giant blue bear. It’s a place of pure fun and happiness. If real, it would rival Disney as the happiest place on earth. This had been a figurative creation, but the movie blurs imagination with reality, and the girl happens upon the “real” Wonder Park.
The park has fallen on dark times coinciding with the dark times the little girl’s family is facing with the mom’s illness. The rides are falling apart, the animals are on the run from sadistic stuffed animals. So, the girl has to help the park and, through doing this, helps herself cope with all that she’s going through.
Deep, right?
I reminded me a bit of
. Growing up. Self-realizations. Tears.
The movie was surprisingly short, coming in at 1hr 26 minutes according to Google. However, we sat down for a 3pm showing with opening previews, and the credits started rolling by 4:21pm. The movie feels even shorter because the majority of its plot is fast-paced action as the girl races to save the park from darkness.
I would have liked the movie to have been a bit longer because some of the characters didn’t seem fully developed. Mila Kunis as the warthog, specifically. With the monkey, who normally runs the park, missing, she had taken the role of leader. She has a couple of stern conversations with the girl, but doesn’t do a whole lot other than that. Yet, when the monkey comes back, we are expected to care that Kunis' warthog is in fact the glue that holds everything together.
Altogether, though, it is a happy movie about imagination and keeping that imagination alive no matter how old you get. It’s also about not losing yourself in depression or worry. It’s about hope. Even during bad times, you shouldn’t lose hope.
Imagination is a “wonder” and should never be lost.
Spoilers ahead.
I will say this for those that don’t mind a bit of a spoiler. The mom makes it. I mean, it makes sense because normally animated movies kill parents off at the beginning. Kids are OK with this (a bit too OK in my opinion) because the happy, feel good movie gives them roughly 90 minutes to get over the death. Parents don’t die at the end of movies. That would be terrible.
I let you know this because I felt the whole thing was a bit ominous the whole time. I didn’t let myself completely into the “wonder” as much because I was too busy suspecting the mom’s spirit is what brought the park alive.
While that would have been awesome and so very poignant, it’d fit more in a grown up movie, Big Fish for instance. Luckily, it didn’t fit for this animated movie and so, we get to see a happy ending.
The movie was fun and got its message across, even if it was a bit rushed.
3 out of 5 babies!
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