On the upside, Wonder Park isn’t riding on some TV show, video game or other pre-established property to appeal to kids. It’s a gentle, colorful and energetic film. Is it anything special? Not really. It’s content going through the motions for the most part. Still, the children who see it will be entertained.
June Bailey (voiced by Brianna Denski) and her mother (Jennifer Garner) stretch their creative muscles when they expand the imaginary amusement park Wonderland, a place whose insane rides are maintained by a group of talking animals: boar Greta (Mila Kunis), twin beavers Gus (Kenan Thompson) and Cooper (Ken Jeong), neurotic porcupine Steve (John Oliver), narcoleptic bear Boomer (Ken Hudson Campbell) and monkey Peanut (Norbert Leo Butz). When June’s mother becomes gravely ill and must go away to be treated while dad (Matthew Broderick) sends June to summer camp to keep her mind from the family drama, the young girl runs away, only to stumble into the real-life Wonderland which is now in a state of disarray and overrun by chimpanzombies.
The film has a nice message of nurturing imagination and following your dreams, of teamwork and perseverance. It’s easy for any film on this topic to be wholesome but I’m not going to criticize Wonder Park for this. Not when the final product looks this good. If you’re going to see this animated picture, make sure it’s in 3D as there are many scenes where characters fly through the air, the camera dives through roller-coaster loopy-loops, and stuff comes right at ya. The plot moves quickly, keeping the visuals interesting and some of the rides featured are just so crazy you have fun simply watching them.
Although the troubled production (Paramount fired the director due to multiple complaints of inappropriate and unwanted behavior and their name is nowhere to be seen in the credits) might’ve had something to do with the finished quality, you get the feeling Wonder Park just wasn’t put through the ringer during the writing phase enough times to be more than a second-rate animated children’s film. It isn’t bad but this isn’t going to be anyone’s favorite down the line.
Wonder Park (odd name considering the place June goes to is called WonderLAND) is essentially a lesser version of Inside Out, The NeverEnding Story, or even - to a certain extent - The Wizard of Oz. You’ve seen the story before, and better. If your kids are screaming to go see it and you want to take the family out instead of watching a classic (superior as it may be), it’s not so bad. (3D Theatrical version on the big screen, March 16, 2019)
