WONDER PARK: Animation Without Wonder

What exactly are the wonders in Wonder Park? There’s animated sparkle, talking animals, and lots of talk of invention, and yet, for all its conversation on “imagination” it’s a shame the movie should hold so little of it.

“Splendiferous” is the politically correct term for “wonder” in this digitally animated land, just as boredom is the temperamentally correct term for how you fill feel sitting through it. Still, it’s not all bad. You will root for this abundantly plucky and adorably precocious little girl. Her name is June, and her smile is just as bright as the month she is named after, thanks to her loving parents voiced by Jennifer Garner and Mathew Broderick.

Dad is the tucked in shirt with glasses type; a devoted and aloof Clark Griswold caricature, whereas mom is more involved. She is the beating heart behind the made-up-world of “Wonder Park.” We see her and June play with stuffed animals upstairs, reminding us that there are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.

Another Wonderless Animated Feature

Their castle is one that lets the imagination run free. An obsessively over-lit kingdom filled with scrambling tourists, a staff of talking animals, and rides such as the flying fish carousel and the “skyflinger” (I found that it was the Ferris Wheel that served as the perfect metaphor for a movie with such a predictable destination). But that Ferris Wheel wonder soon turns to worry once mom gets sick with cancer, and the overly upbeat tone soon turns to depressingly downbeat.

As if director Dylan Brown—fired for sexual misconduct— had never heard of a middle ground. He apparently had never heard of a moral ground either. That’s the thing with this theme-less theme-park: there doesn’t seem to be any sort of direction. Writers Andre Nemic and Robert Gordon have filled the screen with fantastical escapist images that would make a five year old’s eyes sparkle. But they also attempt to take a page from Inside Out. Striking up an allegory of psychological distress seen through the eyes and brain of an eight year old girl.

How can she cope with her mom’s cancer? As someone who went through a father with cancer at the same age, I can assuredly say she isn’t doing a very good job. Besides, moping and self pity doesn’t make for a fun time out at the movies. And it certainly doesn’t blend well with the “splendiferous!” vibe. Her father’s counter is to send a sulking June to math camp. I crunched the numbers, and sending your already sad daughter to math camp is about as irrational as concluding your film without a director.

But Nickelodeon decided to go ahead and send the movie to theaters just as dad decides to push June on the bus for camp. It doesn’t take long for this bright girl to find a way to escape into the nearby woods. Where she stumbles across a roller-coaster ride not unlike the one she built at home. Could it be? Could Wonder Park be real? Yes and no. Having given up on the park, upon arrival she discovers that it has more in common with the untilled Tomorrowland than the fluttering utopia of her daydreams. Think “Planet of the Stuffed Animal Apes” meets Minions as a race of chimpan-zombies tears up the park.

There she meets the gang of animals and it seems that they all need each other in the same way a family needs each other. The bear (Ken Hudson Cambell) needs a brain, the warthog (Mila Kunis) needs purpose, the porcupine (John Oliver) needs a heart, the Chimpanzee (Nobert Leo Butz) needs courage, and June needs imagination, as well as to come to terms with the possibility of losing her mother. But what they all really need is to get their park back.

Wonder Park: Conclusion

This should make for fine family friendly entertainment. But the problem with Wonder Park is that it is neither rich in storytelling nor production design. There isn’t that cerebral CGI that’s promised in the title, and Brown (?) doesn’t build a world in which our emotional connection outweighs the drabness of the characters.

Don’t get me wrong, these characters are chirpier than a flock of birds, but there is a difference between action and energy. This bunch runs, yells, and howls, but the frame always seems to lack movement. Since the pasty animation looks more manufactured than dreamlike. And just like a dream, you will probably forget this director-less feature by the morning.

Have you seen Wonder Park? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

Wonder Park was released in the US on March 15, and will be released in the UK on April 8.