Do you remember the days when you were younger and your mind would take you places that could only be relatable if it was in a comic book or TV cartoon? Those incredible daydreams, the drawings of the craziest things you could think of and somehow, you thought it would come true one day? When you’re a kid, anything is in the realm of possibility.
Much of what are considered family-friendly movies deal with these memories with balance. Disney’s Up and Inside Out both showed the pains of growing older and the grief that comes with loss and they came to a lot of the same conclusions – never lose that “spark.” Enter Wonder Park and the quirky optimism of our main character, Cameron “June” Bailey (Brianna Denski).
Wonder Park itself is the result of June’s creativity. It also serves as a bond between herself and her mother, Mrs. Bailey (Jennifer Garner). She even helps June build an actual physical conception of it. From there, the movie takes an emotional turn when June’s mother gets sick and the once magnificent dream goes away and the emotional stakes are raised.
The movie banks itself on relationships very early on. To deal with her sadness and uncertainly, June begins to over-worry about her father, Mr. Bailey (Matthew Broderick). She becomes a caretaker, forgetting everything that made her unique. Sometimes the ebb and flow of real life causes you to grow up too fast. One day, June actually stumbles into a living manifestation of the theme park she imagined and finds a desolate relic where the once abundant and happy place stood.
The “darkness” has taken over and the park has been overrun by Chimpanzombies. One of the best parts of the movie comes towards the end, where our characters SPOILER defeats the darkness. However, there are remnants still around. When something hurts you emotionally, you may heal from it, but there will always be a scar. Almost as a reminder that you got through in the first place.
The cast of Wonder Park rounds itself out with a warthog who becomes the de facto leader (Mila Kunis), a narcoleptic bear (Ken Hudson Campbell), an inquisitive porcupine (John Oliver) and pair of overactive, spunky beavers who are brothers (Kenan Thompson and Ken Jeong). All of these characters bring humor to the movie in their own way and come together during the movie’s apex emotional moment. You know, the one where the supporting characters start to doubt the main character until a revelation happens. It works mostly for Wonder Park as it ties into June’s creative spark.
The entire park is a symbol of what your imagination can do. One character in particular, Wonder Park’s mascot, Peanut (Norbert Leo Butz) is a totem for June herself. With June’s spark temporarily gone, he loses his urge to create for the park. Peanut speaks to the voice in his ear that gives him that inspiration. That voice could be any of us.
June’s real life friend Banky (Oev Michael Urbas) brings some laughs as well, being the nervous sidekick to June’s hijinks. Wonder Park‘s animation is pretty good, especially in the 3D version. It serves to capture how big the park actually is and we get to visit a lot of parts of it within the movie.
At it’s core, Wonder Park is a quick, straightforward jaunt into the imagination of a kid and how real life obstacles can put a damper on it. Even rob you of it temporarily. Is it a little too heavy-handed emotionally for kids? Perhaps. For a movie that tugs on the emotional strings, it does its job. Plot-wise, it doesn’t bring too much that you haven’t seen before. However, the familiar overall lesson of the movie to keep the “kid” alive inside may be worth a quick watch with it’s less than hour-and-a-half run time.
Rating: 6/10
