‘Wonderstruck’ a beautiful fable for youngsters
silent movie star Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore).
Meanwhile, in 1977, where every colour seems to have a dusty brown undertone, Ben (Oakes Fegley, who also starred in last summer’s “Pete’s Dragon”) is having nightmares and missing his mother (Michelle Williams), a local Minnesota librarian who died recently in a car accident. He carries around a folded up copy of the newspaper clipping in his pocket. He is also isolated from the world around him, and will become even more so when he suffers an accident and loses his hearing too.
Both children are destined for an adventure soon. Ben finds a clue that perhaps his father, whose identity he doesn’t know, is tied to a book store in New York City. And Rose sees that Lillian is set to perform in a play in the city. And both non-hearing kids set out in their respective times to the big city to find what they’re looking for, and find peace at the American Museum of Natural History.
The 1977 thread definitely plays second fiddle to the sumptuous and storybook-like saga of Rose in 1927, which is in no small part due to Simmonds’ deeply moving performance. Together, though, it feels at times like a stitched together Frankenstein of a film — a grand idea that never quite comes together until it’s forced to in the very final moments.
Indeed, the last 15 minutes are undeniably moving. Getting there, however earnest a journey it may be, is a bit of a tedious exercise punctuated by moments of humour and joy and beauty.
Still, for a kid in this age of digital devices and content disconnected from experience, “Wonderstruck” could be its own sort of treasure — a call to explore the real world, to submit to the magic of museums and the enchantment of a beautiful book.
“Wonderstruck,” an Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for “for thematic elements and smoking.” Running time: 117 minutes.
Three stars out of four.