Director: Dylan Brown
Writer: Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec (Screenplay) Robert Gordon, Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec (Story)
Starring: (Voice Talents) Brianna Denski, Matthew Broderick, Mila Kunis, Kenan Thompson, John Oliver, Ken Jeong, Ken Hudson Campbell, Jennifer Garner
Plot: Wonder Park tells the story of an amusement park where the imagination of a wildly creative girl named June comes alive.
Tagline – Dream bigger.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Animation
Story: Wonder Park starts as we meet the imaginative young girl named June who along with her mother has created a fictional amusement park known as Wonderland, she wants to bring this to life, only after her mother gets sick, she gives up on the dream, dumping all of the plans she once had.
One a school trip June doesn’t want to leave her father alone and in her escape attempt, she finds herself in an abandoned Wonderland, where the animals she has created are fighting the horrors in the park. June needs to fix the problems created in the park, to bring her escape from her own grief back to life.
Thoughts on Wonder Park
Characters – June is the young girl that has a wild imagination who created a theme park with her mother, she has even tried to make it a reality only for it to fall apart. She gives up on her dream closing off to the world, only for her past to come back to her, where she needs to help the park come back to life to save the residents and find her happiness again. Peanut is the monkey that runs the park, he takes the ideas of June and entertains the crowds, only he has gone missing since the darkness arrives in the park. Greta holds the park together along with the rest of the animals.
Story – The story here follows a young girl that has created an amusement part in her mind with her mother, only to give up on the idea after her mother becomes ill, only to find herself in the park filled with darkness where she needs to confront her own feelings to save her dream. This story does try to deal with one of the most serious issues in life, loss, one where a younger person will struggle to process the ideas properly, we get the message about not giving up on the dreams, only we get it told in such a strange fantasy filled way it just doesn’t connect on the levels it could do. The heart in the film is great, only the comedy drags it away.
Adventure/Comedy – The adventure side of the film shows us the park that June ends up being taken into, somewhere was only in her imagination, with the comedy not hitting hard enough for the all set up created.
Settings – The film does use the settings of the park to make us see the beauty created and how it can looked beaten down when the dreams become shattered.
Animation – The animation looks strong, being the best part of the film, with each location looking beautiful.
Scene of the Movie – The new ride.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The comedy.
Final Thoughts – This is a simple animation that tries to show the heart it requires only to get caught on the comedy that doesn’t work.
Overall: Heart Filled Animation.
