(#1) Wonder (2017) - [8/10]

A beautiful tale of how an ugly boy battles middle school, society and acceptance.

Based on the New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

How would I describe this film in one word?

Beautiful.

Note This movie could relate to a lot of us highschoolers dealing with pressure from our school peers or just simply having low self esteem about our looks. This story makes you understand the importance of not being shy to aquaint with someone just because they are or look different than us. The story also makes us realise the value of what we have, in a world where we are manufactured by society to value what we don't have.

Review

This story puts the lens on quite a few characters, but the star here is Auggie. Auggie is boy who was born with a face deformity. He was homeschooled most of his life, now come middle school and his mother thinks "the sooner the better" for him to take on life and deal with the real world. The story follows the boy dealing with the challenges of "fitting in" at school. This can be especially difficult when you don't look normal. He punishes himself for it so do the bullies. These bullies maybe a little cheesy and predictable but they do have character, they are still only a middle schooler - a stupid one though. But eventually a boy named Jack decides to sit with him in lunch after Auggie helped him out on the science test. They quickly become friends. A girl named Summer is fed up of having fake friends and decides to sit with Auggie during lunch. They quickly become friends too. How would Auggie not accept friend requests which he gets so rarely? They have their dramas - the makeups and breakups - and before you know it, it's the end of the year. And he's presented with an award which is seemingly equivalent to the "Student of the Year" award for braving through all the hardships he faced throughout the school year. Here's the problem I had with that - why did he deserve it? The hardships he faced was a journey he walked himself not by doing anything significant for the school to take notice of. Or maybe it's just the an award for academic achievement because he's smart. But let's rewind to the initial assumption. Sure. It takes lots of bravery to handle all that like Auggie. But it was his mother who forced him there and kept him there. And let's give notice to the dad and big sister who were always there to support him. But most importantly, his friends - Jack and Summer. And if you ask me who I thought deserved that award and who was the real hero of the story, the answer would be Jack Will. Take away a friend like Jack and poor Auggie would've given up. He's the true role model of this story who's trying to convey the message the movie wants to tell us, that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, we shouldn't bully, we shouldn't let a friend be beaten down when we could help them up and we should take the courage to go up and befriend a "extra-ordinary" kid sitting alone on a lunch table because you never how important a friend could be to a kid's life. Summer was brave too but you could argue she wouldn't have gathered the courage had Jack not taken the first step. Auggie was always a wonder, he was a match, but Jack Will was the spark. The real hero. The kind this story shows us we need.

RATING: 8/10

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Director: Stephen Chbosky Rated: PG Runtime: 1 hr 53 min Genre: Drama, Family Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Owen Wilson, Izabela Vidovic