Wonder Park

Wonder Park

Starring Brianna Denski, Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick, Mila Kunis

The Story:
Growing up, June (Brianna Denski) and her mother (Jennifer Garner) share a vivid imagination, and together create the mythical Wonderland theme park where their most innovative imaginations can create the most unique rides imaginable, and when June tries to create this world for real, ends in hilariously disastrous consequences.  The young girl maintains a childlike imagination and wonder, but when her mother comes down with a terminal illness that sends her away, June abandons her imagination and Wonderland altogether.

Then while on a trip, June wanders from the group and finds her Wonderland theme park in tatters.  The creatures that run it - Boomer (Ken Hudson Campbell) the bear, Greta (Mila Kunis) the boar, Steve (John Oliver) the porcupine, and Cooper (Ken Jeong) and Gus (Kenan Thompson) the beavers - are trying to keep what's left of Wonderland alive after it mysteriously shut down and a swirl of darkness overtook the park and unleashed an insurmountable army of Chimpanzombies that slowly tear away the park and sends its remains up to a never-ending void.  The only hope comes with finding Peanut (Norbert Leo Butz) the monkey, who's the grandmaster of the park and who got his ideas from June's mom.  As June sets out to fix the park, she learns that the darkness comes from within her, and the fear of loosing that which was closest to her could very well lead to the destruction of the park she once held dear.

The Synopsis:
Nickelodeon Studios has been faltering as of late, mostly due to the insurmountable juggernaut that is Disney that's overtaken the television and film world.  The studio twice before hit gold with films like "Jimmy Neutron" and "Barnyard" that led to their own series, and tried the third time with "Wonder Park," the film that will introduce their new series.  However, due to insane turmoil behind the scenes, the film itself became a jumbled mess of stories that don't go anywhere, crafting a sad narrative just for the sake of being sad, and fails to deliver any sense of actual wonder that the title implies.

The story could've been a powerful tale of struggle and dealing with depression during the sickness of a loved one, that could've been told in an allegorical way through the park itself, but there's no revelation that this was the intended intent.  June struggles with possibly loosing her mother due to sickness, and that's why she gave up on her imagination of Wonderland, but when she finds that it's real, doesn't really connect the two until very late in the film, to a very unsatisfactory conclusion.  There were moments and ideas that could've lent themselves to connecting the two themes perfectly, but it ends a disjointed mess that only children will enjoy due to the regurgitated amount of bright colors that saturate the screen in each frame.

The main issue with the film lies behind the scenes, as its director was fired after sexual allegations arose (something that's very not good for promoting a children's film).  With no real director, the film spirals from left to right like one of the rides from the park (the one where it hurls balls with people inside from one side of the park to another), which leaves the same emotion as one would have being in that constricted ball in the first place.

The voice talent is fine enough, but it seemed too small for such a great talent.  Jennifer Garner as the mother gives a very maternal feel, but also rings hollow, as does Matthew Broderick's father role.  Newcomer Brianna Denski gives June a voice filled with wide-eyed wonder, but also turns grating at moments.  The voices of the animals too just come off as subpar, especially Mila Kunis as Greta (often I just said to the screen, "Shut up Meg," since Kunis also voices Meg Griffin in "Family Guy"), while John Oliver is the small light of the film, but it only seems that he's simply warming up for his eventual arrival in the new "Lion King" film.

There's not much else to tell about this trainwreck except that if it was done in the hands of Pixar - or Dreamworks, or pretty much any other company for that matter - it would've been hailed as another animated masterpiece, but now it'll go down as just a Pixar-wannabe that should've just been contained to the small screen.

The Summary:
With a tumultuous story behind the scenes, "Wonder Park" fails to deliver any wonder at all, except for the wonder of how a film like this was made in the first place - but at least the kids will enjoy the bright dizzying colors.

The Score: D-