Respond to these rapid questions in our Wonder Park quiz and we will tell you which Wonder Park character you are. Play it now.
Despite the fact that the first five minutes of Pixar’s “Up” were brilliant, they bear a great deal of responsibility because they encouraged animated filmmakers to reach for gut-punching twists that their films did not always deserve. For example, “Wonder Park,” a film about a brilliant, science-minded young lady named June, aka “Junebug,” (Brianna Denski), who has a special relationship with her mother, is a good example of this (Jennifer Garner). A stuffed animal and other toys are scattered across the floor of June’s room as the two create a fantasy world that is anchored to Wonderland, a theme park that could never exist in reality because not even the combined gross national product of the world’s richest countries could afford to build it (plus, a lot of the rides are hilariously dangerous, like the one that hurls people from one side of the park to the other with what look like metallic baseballs with windows). In the meantime, June’s mother is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness (which is never explicitly stated, but appears to be cancer) and is forced to go away for treatment for the entire summer, forcing June to attend math camp against her will while she is concerned that her father (Matthew Broderick) is wasting away unattended.
The decision to get off the bus en route to math camp and wander into nature is made on the spur of the moment, and June discovers a fully realized version of Wonder Park that has fallen into disarray as a result of a horde of undead zombie monkeys that used to be adorable and harmless. It is feared that the park’s eccentric, lovable talking animals, which were once the focal point of her playtime with her mother, will be completely eliminated, leaving her beleaguered and depressed (and their own vanishing, probably).
In addition to the titular bear (Ken Hudson Campbell), the gang includes a porcupine named Steve (John Oliver, who appears to be warming up for his role in the CGI remake of “The Lion King”), a lovable boar named Greta (Mila Kunis), and a couple of beavers named Cooper (Ken Jeong) and Gus (Kenan Thompson) who are tasked with park maintenance and safety, respectively. Peanut (Norbert Leo Butz), a chimpanzee who used to be a visionary and master showman, is the most intriguing character in the film. He serves as a link between the world of the park and the “real” world beyond. In an early sequence, we see him taking orders from June’s mother, which are then conveyed to him by June herself in whispers. However, when June finally arrives at the park, Peanut has vanished, and it becomes immediately apparent that finding him and coaxing him back into circulation is the only way to save the park.
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Meanwhile, June’s mother’s cancer diagnosis hangs over the story like a dark cloud over it. Although adults will likely recognize that the movie is not going to kill her off at the end of the film after letting June and her father worry about her for ninety-plus minutes, it still seems a bit manipulative to use this as a dramatic sword of Damocles, especially when the script fails to connect it to the metaphorical action taking place inside Wonderland in the first place.
Wonder Park Quiz
More than one reviewer has drawn comparisons between this film and “Inside Out,” and the comparison is not flattering. The Pixar film featured an intricately devised system of metaphors that managed to avoid becoming too abstract or didactic while always connecting to the film’s characters, plot, and overall theme. This one seems to be losing its way. There are a few stray flashes here and there that give a hint as to what “Wonder Park” might have been attempting. The swarming hordes of monkeys are increasing in number and strength at an alarming rate, and they are threatening to subsume and destroy the park. In Peanut’s world, June the would-be Disney imagineer is a preternaturally gifted child who is already concerned that if her mother dies, she will lose both the emotional connection she has with her and her own creative abilities. After all, it’s not like “Wonder Park” is incapable of sensitively dealing with all of this inherently difficult subject matter. On the other hand, what’s onscreen gives little indication that the story and themes have been thoroughly thought through in a way that would give the terminal illness plot line anything more than a passing thought.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Wonder Park quiz.
While the zombie monkeys swarm the periphery like ghouls on “The Walking Dead,” so much of the needlessly complicated and rules-driven action inside the park plays out as wasted motion, both visually and narratively—a lot of running around and yelling, as well as things crashing into each other. Moreover, the typical Pixar/Dreamworks/Blue Sky dialogue (this is a Paramount-Nickelodeon production), which is very much in the vein of the Pixar/Dreamworks/Blue Sky usual (this is a Paramount-Nickelodeon production), does not so much patch it all together as it does disrupt any delicate spell that the film can weave.
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According to my knowledge, this is the first major feature film to have been released without any sort of director credit at all (the assigned director, a Pixar veteran, was relieved of duties following sexual harassment allegations last year). Despite the fact that it’s impossible to tell whether a stronger hand would have produced a better quality film or an almost equally bad film with a little more personality, the lack of, er, direction is evident in the finished product. This is a mostly forgettable film that only makes a strong impression when it is disturbing or saddening in a way that the film itself seems only dimly aware of. It is melancholy in all the wrong ways.Also, you must try to play this Wonder Park quiz.
For more personality quizzes check this: Gemini Man Quiz.
