Review: Wonder (PG)

Lovingly adapted from the award-winning 2012 novel by RJ Palacio, this exquisitely calibrated drama eschews mawkish sentimentality but still has us weeping uncontrollably by the end credits.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Dec 2017, 09:25 BST
Updated 12th Dec 2017, 01:00 BST
PARENTAL LOVE: Jacob Tremblay and Julia Roberts in Wonder.PARENTAL LOVE: Jacob Tremblay and Julia Roberts in Wonder.
PARENTAL LOVE: Jacob Tremblay and Julia Roberts in Wonder.

An elegant script confidently navigates the choppy emotional waters that threaten to separate four members of a Manhattan family, who have learnt the hard way that beauty comes from within. A simple bookmark structure alternates between narrators, exposing chinks in the characters’ armours as they wrestle with insecurities and learn life lessons from a 10-year-old boy with a rare genetic syndrome, which has resulted in 27 agonising surgeries to painstakingly rebuild his face.

A stellar cast led by Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and 11-year-old wunderkind Jacob Tremblay, who narrowly missed out on an Oscar nomination for his stunning performance in the 2015 film Room, inhabit each flawed protagonist with tenderness. It’s a magnificent ensemble effort, right down to the smallest roles on the periphery and Stephen Chbosky directs with an assured touch.

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Roberts and Wilson are an appealing parental double-act and Tremblay might be concealed behind prosthetics and a wig but he conveys every flicker of Auggie’s raw emotions with precision beyond his tender years. Only a stone-cold heart will be able to resist the film’s sincere and heartfelt charms.

On general release