Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Mandy Patinkin, Daveed Diggs
OUR RATING: ★★★★☆
Story:
Drama directed by Stephen Chbosky. Wonder (2017) centers on August “Auggie” Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), a young boy born with a facial difference, who has been in and out of hospitals for years. With the help of his mother, Isabel (Julia Roberts) and his father, Nate (Owen Wilson), he tries to fit in at a new school named Beecher Prep and shows everyone that he is just an ordinary kid, no different than the rest of the world. He strives to teach others that beauty is not just on the outside.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. And if you really want to see what people are, all you have to do is look.' - Auggie Pullman (Wonder) Share on X
Best Quotes
Auggie Pullman: My name is Auggie Pullman. Next week I start fifth grade, and since I’ve never been to a real school before I’m pretty much totally petrified. Absolutely.
Auggie Pullman: I know I’ll never be an ordinary kid. People don’t like to touch me, because they think I’m contagious.
Isabel Pullman: I’ll meet you right here after school. Okay, right here. I love you.
Auggie Pullman: I love you too.
Isabel Pullman: I’ll see you later.
Via Pullman: [through his helmet] Can you hear me? If they stare let them stare. You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.
Nate Pullman: We’re going to have a little man to man.
[Nate takes Auggie and walks a little to the side away from Isabel and Via]
Nate Pullman: [as they walk up to the school sign by the gates] Now, I got to stop here because past this point is a no dad zone, and you don’t want to walk up with your parents because it’s not cool.
Auggie Pullman: But you’re cool.
Nate Pullman: I know I am, but technically most dads aren’t, so. And neither are these helmets.
Nate Pullman: [he opens Auggie’s helmet] Hey, two rules. First, only raise your hand once in class no matter how many answers you know, except for science. Crush them.
Auggie Pullman: Check.
Nate Pullman: Second, you’re going to feel like you’re all alone, Auggie, but you’re not.
Auggie Pullman: Check.
Nate Pullman: [referring to the helmet] Shall we lose this? Come on, costumes are for Halloween. Prepare for blast off.
Nate Pullman: [as Auggie hugs him] I love you.
Auggie Pullman: I love you too.
Nate Pullman: Have fun.
Auggie Pullman: Bye.
'If you don't like where you are just picture where you want to be.' - Auggie Pullman (Wonder) Share on X
Isabel Pullman: [as they watch Auggie walk into school] Dear God, please let them be nice to him.
Auggie Pullman: I know I’m not an ordinary kind of a kid, I’ve had twenty-seven surgeries. They help me to breathe, to see, to hear without a hearing aid, but none of them have me look ordinary.
Auggie Pullman: Mr. Tushman went out of his way to tell me how sweet those kids were and that Julian is apparently quite the dream.
Isabel Pullman: No. Not a dream? Is he one of those kids that acts one way in front of grownups and then another way in front of kids?
Auggie Pullman: Yeah, I guess.
Isabel Pullman: Well I know it’s hard, but you have to understand that he probably feels badly about himself. And when someone acts small, you just have to be the bigger person, alright?
Auggie Pullman: My mom always said, “If you don’t like where you are just picture where you want to be.”
'You can't blend in when you were born to stand out.' - Via Pullman (Wonder) Share on X
Mr. Browne: [referring to the word “precept”] Can anybody tell me what this word means? Anybody? No? Precepts are rules for really important things.
Charlotte: Like mottos.
Mr. Browne: Like mottos or like famous quotes, or like lines from a fortune cookie. Right, precepts can help motivate us. They can help guide us when we have to make decisions about really important things. Okay, so who wants to read this month’s precept?
Mr. Browne: [as most of the class puts their hand] What about you? What’s your name?
Summer: Summer.
Mr. Browne: Summer. Want to give it a shot?
Summer: “When given the choice between right or being kind, choose kind.”
Julian: [to Auggie] Incubator, bunsen burners, oh, and this is an eraser. You know what an eraser is, right?
Classmate: Look at his face. He’s a freak! I’ve never seen anything that ugly in my life!
Julian: [Auggie overhears Julian talking to his friends] If I looked like him I’d swear I’d put a hood over my face.
Nate Pullman: [to Auggie] I know you don’t always like it, but I love it. It’s my son’s face.
Isabel Pullman: You are not ugly, and anyone who cares to know you will see that.
Auggie Pullman: You just have to say that because you’re my mom!
Isabel Pullman: Because I’m your mom it counts the most because I know you the most. Believe me.
'When given the choice between right or being kind, choose kind.' - Summer (Wonder) Share on X
Summer: Hi.
Auggie Pullman: You don’t have to do this.
Summer: I don’t know what you’re talking about, Auggie.
Auggie Pullman: You don’t have to pretend is all I’m saying. You really don’t.
Summer: Auggie!
Auggie Pullman: Okay, I’m really sorry. Why are you sitting here then?
Summer: Because I want some nice friends for a change.
Auggie Pullman: Me too.
Mr. Browne: Who is it that I aspire to be? That is the question that we should be asking ourselves all the time.
Auggie Pullman: I don’t like eating in front of people.
Jack Will: What do you mean?
Auggie Pullman: I think I chew like some prehistoric swamp turtle.
Jack Will: No joke, me too.
Jack Will: I’d like to be able to control the weather.
Auggie Pullman: That would be your super power? That sounds pretty lame.
Jack Will: What would you do?
Auggie Pullman: I’d be invisible.
'When someone acts small, you just have to be the bigger person.' - Isabel Pullman (Wonder) Share on X
Jack Will: Have you ever thought about having plastic surgery?
Auggie Pullman: Dude, this is after plastic surgery. It takes a lot of work to look this good.
Via Pullman: [to Auggie] You’re the toughest kid in that school. Show them. You can’t blend in when you were born to standout. Show them.
Isabel Pullman: [to Auggie] We all have marks on our faces.
Isabel Pullman: [points to her heart] This is the map that shows us where we’re going.
Isabel Pullman: [points to her face] And this is the map that shows us where you’ve been.
Auggie Pullman: Every time I came home from the hospital, Daisy was here. She was a real friend, and real friends are hard to find.
Isabel Pullman: You really are a wonder, Auggie.
'Real friends are hard to find.' - Auggie Pullman (Wonder) Share on X
Julian’s Mom: [after Mr. Tushman suspends Julian] Two days for a couple of notes from a kid? After all the money that we have poured into this school? We have a lot of friends on the school board, Mr. Tushman.
Mr. Tushman: Oh. Well, I have more.
Julian’s Mom: So what would you have us do? Bend over backwards for every single person in the world? Nobody can get their feelings hurt ever? You are not doing these kids any favors.
Mr. Tushman: Mrs. Albans, Auggie can’t change the way he looks. So, maybe we can change the way we see.
Julian’s Mom: Yes. I will be sure to tell that to the real world.
Auggie Pullman: Walking up towards that stage, I felt like I was floating. My heart was beating so fast. I didn’t really understand why I was getting a medal. It’s not like I blew up the Death Star. All I did was get through fifth grade, just like everyone else here.
Mr. Tushman: [gives Auggie the medal] Congratulations. Here you go. That’s for you.
Auggie Pullman: Then again, maybe that’s kind of the point. Maybe the truth is, I’m really not so ordinary. Maybe if we knew what other people were thinking we’d know that no one’s ordinary, and we all deserve a standing ovation at least once in our lives. My friends do. My teachers do. My sister does for always being there for me. My dad does for always making us laugh. And my mom does the most, for never giving up, on anything. Especially, me. It’s like that last precept Mr. Browne gave us. Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. And if you really want to see what people are, all you have to do is look.
Trailer:
Wonder (2017) is a film directed by Stephen Chbosky and stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Mandy Patinkin and Daveed Diggs. It follows the tale of August Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), affectionately known as Auggie, who was born with a severe facial disfigurement and is beginning his first year in mainstream schooling. While the film explores a thought provoking subject not yet covered by Hollywood it is done so in a very conventional and stock standard way.
The film is clearly following a formula that has been tried and tested hundreds of times. The film is a feel good movie, slightly predictable at times and without any unseen complications. I was also slightly disappointed with the cast choice, feeling that Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson were too perfect in appearance and do not truly represent any average family. I was also disappointed in their choice to cast Tremblay in the role of Auggie instead of an actor with a real facial deformity. However mundanely I have painted this film, it is clearly aimed at a younger, less sophisticated audience and is an example of one of Hollywood’s new age of movies aimed to socially construct the next generation of young people. I would recommend this film to any children 11-14 and would ultimately give it 3 to 3 1/2 stars.
Rating: 3/5