lom83

I thought this was really quite dull overall. It's hardly an original story and I got quite bored mid way through. The characters are nice enough but it's pretty predictable and didn't really 'grab' me. I suppose the script is fairly decent, there are some fairly poignant pieces of dialogue, though there are other times when little is said at all and there's not much content there...I guess it could move some people, it is sad to see how things change but I didn't find it exactly surprising or anything. The performances are good but it's pretty slow, plot pace wise. If anything appealed to me about it, I'd say its the technology aspect - relying on the internet, Google street view, photos etc. For her to convey what she's seeing and doing, is interesting. I suppose after the COVID19 lockdowns, people have been forced to rely on technology to stay in touch with others. I didn't mind that part of the story but I wouldn't say this film is primarily about the power or ability of technology to maintain a relationship alone. It's only a part of it, if that makes any sense. It's thoughtful but I think it's a bit too sparse for my liking really. I imagine some may regard it as quietly devastating but I'm not sure I really felt that, personally. I can see what they were getting at though.

Overall I wouldn't recommend it as such, no.

I found this film relatively amusing, for an Adam Sandler film. Most of the time I cringe at his films but I thought that Adam and Drew Barrymore had a good on screen chemistry, their good at playing the visual slapstick, exaggeratedly over the top/hyper single parents. I'd heard this was quite good, the 2nd film to feature Adam and Drew as the two main leads since '50 First Dates' which I also thought wasn't too bad.

Its an easy watch, pretty basic comedy as you might expect. The comedy is pretty zany and there's definitely a, as I say, hyperactive element to it. Its hardly greatly memorable but as an easy piece of cheap entertainment, its not awful. I thought it was surprisingly watchable and so I'm going for a 4 star rate, although I realise that it won't appeal to everyone. If you like the sound of this film and are ok with somewhat zany, exaggerated characters, a bit of cheese and basic visual comedy then I'd recommend this.

I knew the basic story of Wonder before I saw it and I assumed it was aimed at kids but I think its the kind of film that works well for both kids and adults. There's certainly a fair amount of food for thought, as it were. Unsurprisingly, it is quite sad and sentimental, although I'm glad to say that I didn't feel it was unnecessarily piled in sugary sweet emotions - it focusses on the childs difficulties starting at a public school and his reaction to being made fun of for his looks. I suppose it is perhaps a little predictable but I thought that it wasn't as tacky as it perhaps could have come across and also I thought that the main cast did pretty well in their respective roles, especially Jacob Tremblay as the main character, August aka Auggie and Julia Roberts as his mum. It deals with bullying, fear/shame and so on - important topics for adolescents certainly.

Would I recommend it? yes I would.