“Wonder’s” characters all bring power to their roles. The film more or less opens with Auggie’s mom Isabel (played warmly by Julia Roberts) as she pushes her son to attend elementary school and have a normal life. Up to this point, Auggie (Jacob Tremblay) has been home schooled. Isabel watches Auggie struggle, but continues to encourage him and to prevent him fro falling back to home schooling with her, which, as a mother, I can imagine how hard must have been for her. The relationship between Auggie and his mom is touching, especially during a scene near the film’s end where Auggie endearingly thanks her for pushing him to go.
Auggie’s father, Nate, is played by Owen Wilson. And while Wilson plays the role serious, unlike his roles in comedies such as “Wedding Crashers” or “The Internship,” he’s not really given much to work with and is poorly developed. Basically he continues to encourage his son to keep trying to be ‘normal’ (even telling him to win a fight if he ever gets into one), and to never give up.
We also see some other characters, such as Auggie’s teenage sister Via (Izabela Vidovic), who loves Auggie but carries feelings of not being as important to her family as Auggie due to her normalcy compared to Auggie’s intense needs. Most of her problems (struggles in school, and, the hardest, a break with her childhood best friend) are often glossed over in lieu of Auggie. Vidovic is marvelous, and shows the kindness and pain of her character extremely well, especially in one heartbreaking scene where she tells a fellow student that she is an only child. And while Via’s story comes to a head in realistic and powerful ways, “Wonder” makes the hard acknowledgement that Via’s needs are important too – even if she doesn’t have the problems Auggie does.
As Auggie, Tremblay does a fantastic job, convincing us of a boy who wants to be brave, but unable to cover up his significant physical deformities, is at the mercy of those around him. He’s a wiz at science, and has grown accustomed to wearing a space helmet at home to cover his massive facial scars; but his father convinces him to leave this at home and accept himself. He accepts friends tepidly – a group of students that show him around will become both allies and adversaries to him.
His closest relationship is with a student named Jack (Noah Jupe). Jupe and Tremblay have great chemistry together and make for some of the film’s best scenes. The movie wisely shows some of Jack’s struggles amidst pressures from school. A scene where he gives into peer pressure and hurts Auggie is hard; but another where he stands up for him is one of the movie’s most vindicating.
The character development in “Wonder” is deep and purposeful, shown in several other characters as well – from a bully named Julian (Bryce Ghesiar), to Auggie’s sister Via, to Via’s best friend Miranda (Danielle Rose Russell). The power of “Wonder’ is that it isn’t just about Auggie’s suffering. All of its characters suffer at times, and the film shows how they learn to understand and support each other, even as they themselves deal with painful situations. One touching scene involving an situation with the family dog shows this well. The father’s reaction to this event – and the bond the scene shows between he and Auggie – makes for one of the film’s most tender moments. “Wonder” is a very nice film;” and one that encourages empathy and love.
“Wonder” is a nice movie. It has warmth, detailed character development, and maturity. You won’t always like all the characters but you do understand them. Tremblay, Wilson, Robert, Jupe, and Vidovic portray real people with real struggles, wrapped up in an anti-bullying message that is poignant while never becoming preachy. While feel-good films that manipulate your emotions are easier to make, “Wonder” avoids this temptation and instead allows you understand. A powerful movie that makes for a nice change.
– by Andrea Habel
