The movie Wonder has been very popular lately with copious thoughtful reviews elicited from sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. To see what all the commotion was about, we took a trip to the movie theatre to see for ourselves really how “spectacular” this movie was.

The reviews were right on point. Wonder is a touching story about a 5th grade boy, Auggie, with a face deformity, trying to get through his first year in middle-school. He had been homeschooled up until 5th grade so public school is new to him. The movie is based on a true study–following Auggie through his life and its many trials and tribulations–struggling at first to fit in and find friends in a daunting environment.

Wonder, however, is not just your typical heartwarming story that is sad at the beginning, but of course, ends on a happy note. It had its moments of originality but in terms of story arc, the viewer got the sense that it would all end up okay early on. For this reason, the movie was a little cliche in its plot and the audience can predict that the story will turn over and get cheerful.

I really appreciated the changes in perspective throughout the movie. It started with Auggie as the narrator, followed by Via, Miranda, then Jack Will. These perspectives helped the audience understand the entirety of the situation. Without Via becoming the narrator, the audience would have never realized how hard her life was with Auggie constantly garnering all the attention. I enjoyed how it shows the other side of things and reminds us that we can’t forget how we affect the people around us.

I also enjoyed the character of Jack Will. With his inclusion, it created a character that the audience could connect with, as he was more of a bystander at first. Jack Will was forced to be nice to Auggie in the beginning and was even trash talking him behind his back to sound cool to some other kids, which, as we know, is textbook pre-teen drama. This, of course, is a realistic situation that kids can go through in middle school; do you make friends with the ‘weird’ kid because he is actually a really awesome person? Or do you avoid him so you aren’t made fun of?

The movie at its core is very heartfelt and has a few melancholy scenes, but it doesn’t turn into a Nicholas Sparks movie where you will a sobbing mess and in need of a tissue.   

This movie has an underlying theme of learning to love yourself no matter the circumstances. Having a little bit of confidence in yourself can take you a long way. This theme connects to the other main theme of  the film: not judging people based off of appearance. 

They overall rating for Wonder was a 4 out of 5 stars from The Forest Scout. The movie was hyped up to be a very uplifting but also heartbreaking in the sense that would leave you balling when you exit the movie theater. To have such high expectations set, it’s hard to meet them. The movie is a little cliche, and you can predict how it is going to end. Though there were negatives, Wonder was a beautiful movie that made the story of a boy with a face deformity into a tale of a hero, who stood up for himself and made the best of his situation.