Wonder Park
review by Bobby Blakey
These days there are always a ton of animated features coming to theaters and straight to home entertainment, but it seems like lately the big screen is filled with mostly sequels. The latest, Wonder Park starring Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick, John Oliver, Mila Kunis, Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Norbert Leo Butz, Brianna Denski and Ken Hudson Campbell looks to bring something fresh to the big screen and has the potential to be a lot of fun. Could this be the roller coaster of fun it promises or will it get stalled out before the first loop?
Wonder Park follows a young girl named June with a big imagination who makes an incredible discovery—the amusement park of her dreams has come to life. Filled with the world’s wildest rides operated by fun-loving animals, the excitement never ends. But when trouble hits, June and her misfit team of furry friends begin an unforgettable journey to save the park. Outside of the trailer I hadn’t heard much of how this film was but was still looking forward to it if for nothing else than the visuals. To my surprise this film is not only good it is way deeper than I had expected.
The film has all the normal tropes of a great animated film with fun memorable characters, great visuals and a fun story. What it also has is a lot of real life emotions to deal with that everyone can relate to. You kind of see something sad is going to happen, but it was way deeper in execution than I thought which is why it works so much better. When they get into the world of Wonder Park it is truly a magical adventure that is a feast to the senses. The bright vibrant colors and unique designs to the park keep you visually engaged from start to finish. I was surprised to the amount of creativity here that offered up something that was both familiar and fresh all at once.
The voice cast all did a great job at bringing their characters to life. Each of them brought fun, heart and emotion needed to really punch this story home. Sure there are some predictable moments and some by the number story telling elements, but I still really had a great time with this film.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including deleted scene, sing-along, featurettes and more. Grab your copy of Wonder Park when it hits digital on June 4th and then on Blu-ray and DVD on June 18th from Paramount Home Entertainment.