It took us a while to decide on a family movie for Christmas Day. Wonder disappointed no one. I cried, yes, and yes, I cried multiple times. But most of those tears were ones based on a warmed heart.
Wonder is a year-in-the-life of Auggie. Auggie is the child who (if you’ve seen any previews at all you know this) has a genetic condition that resulted in severe deformities in his appearance. This year of focus, his first year at a school away from home, occurring as middle school begins, sets the stage for the movie: how he, his family, and his friends live in his world.
I couldn’t help but come across a few notes about the film before seeing it, looking up the ideal times to duck out of the theater on my RunPee app (really, there is such a thing!). The note I read referenced the film as one without much of a plot, but that this was okay as it is all character development. Indeed, it is. Many characters in turn, in fact, gets their own personal focus of how they see life with Auggie. And those perspectives aptly rounded out the focus on Auggie’s year.
One of my favorite things about the movie was how they handled hair and makeup for Auggie’s mom, played by Julia Roberts. I’m not going to say anything specific here, but I loved how those two things provided a mirror for Auggie’s first year in middle school and, of course, his mother’s handling of that. As Auggie grows, so too does Mom.
Owen Wilson portrays Auggie’s dad, and it was quite a treat to see Wilson in a role that, although certainly one of comedic relief, was not based on over-the-top, roll-your-eyes humor. Instead, he’s gentle in his humor, his timing is spot-on, and he plays the role in the family well. Likely, his ability to dance this balanced step is how the family has made it through as they have.
Yes, the family here is too sweet, too gooey, too bow-tied. But that’s why you see a movie like Wonder. Sometimes you want to see a movie with a moral lesson and a moral compass that allows you to leave the theater happier than when you went in. Sometimes we need a movie that melts the ice of bad moods. And sometimes we need a movie whose characters, all except one or two, you really (eventually) like. Seeing this one on Christmas Day with adored family topped all of that with a perfect Bada Bing cherry.