Review Summary: Amusing and occasionally heartfelt but not wonderful.
There's definitely something different about Wonder Park. It's a rare original animated flick in the marketplace, that's true. But what about the film is truly unique? Maybe it's noticeable emphasis on childhood creativity perhaps? Or the film's amusement park focus? Part of me isn't sure, but Paramount's latest animated flick definitely does stand out for being an interesting idea. The first trailer was stronger than expected, with the inclusion of a new version of the classic song, "What a Wonderful World".
However, while Wonder Park is entertaining and fun, it never quite comes together to become an animated classic. Now, for kids (the obvious target audience), its' a pretty good movie. It just has a hard time appealing outside of its core audience. It even has a decent emotional core, but its' not as well-written as a lot of its' animated brethren.
The set-up and first act are terrific. June (voiced nicely by newcomer Brianna Denski) and her Mom (voice of Jennifer Garner) are given a handful of strong scenes that show off their infectious imagination. And, the reveal of her mom's terminal illness and heading to see an out-of-town doctor are appropriately heartbreaking. There's a few gently-emotional scenes that are done very well. And, it remains tastefully (and subtly)-conveyed without getting too sentimental or sophisticated for the kids in the audience.
When the film hits its second act, the pacing goes into frantic mode. The film moves very quick, with very little time to stop and discuss what's going on. A couple of lines are used to reference June's family situation and how that affects the park in general, but these concepts aren't given enough attention. Yes, this is a kids' movie and there shouldn't be too much sadness in one. However, I wish the movie could have had at least a couple of scenes rewritten so the audience could slow down and process what's going on.
This frantic and quick-moving pace also affects the dialogue. There are moments where the characters talk so quick that I had a difficult time keeping up with what they were trying to say. This is unfortunate, because the film has several great jokes. There are some genuinely funny slapstick bits along with some nice one-liners that work without resorting to pop culture references or adult humor.
The characters are fun. Besides June, the main stand-out here is Boomer. A bear that falls asleep fairly often, the character is given a few memorable moments. Mila Kunis nails her voice acting debut as warthog Greta. John Oliver does good work as Steve the porcupine also. However, while comedians Ken Jeong and Kenan Thompson are nice choices for beaver twin brothers Gus and Cooper, the material for their characters is weak. I really wish they were given better jokes.
Visually, Wonder Park works nicely when it's in the theme park itself. A scene where June floats down "fireworks falls" and a "Zero G room" stand out as unique creations. The colors and effects fly by at a fairly speedy rate. So, again, there's not much time to really show much of the park off. However, considering how much time they had to work with, I'm pretty impressed with how much the filmmakers were able to fit in. Oscar winner Steven Price's music score is very solid too.
At a tight 85 minutes, Wonder Park never feels like it drags nor does it have any scenes that feel out-of-place or off-kilter. It also ends very solidly. However, it's script and pacing definitely could have used some work. It starts strong, but it doesn't maintain the intrigue and energy as it goes. A steadier progression, a few slowdown scenes and some stronger dialogue might would have helped this movie reach the all-age, multi-generational appeal of Pixar and Disney movies.
However, Wonder Park is not a stinker either. It's a reasonably fun (yet flawed) time at the movies that serves as a very decent, relatively safe distraction for kids.
My Score: 6.9/10
Content Concerns for Family Viewing: Wonder Park is rated PG for "some mild thematic elements and action". This might be one of the cleanest kids' movies I've seen in awhile. There is some rollercoaster style action peril (some of which move a little quick and might prove to cause motion sickness for younger viewers). There's also a few lightly mature themes (the film touches on depression, difficult life changes and a family's terminal illness, all concepts parents may need to prepare a post-movie discussion for). And an occasional odd moment or two (someone pretends to throw up as a diversion and throws orange jell-o to try and convince the audience). Otherwise, I think this is a solid choice for ages 5 or 6 and up.
