Member-only story
Wonder Park: Family Film Discussion Guide
A review of Nickelodeon’s new film Wonder Park and discussion prompts for post-screening family talk
Film Review
June is a preternaturally imaginative young child obsessed with amusement parks. She spends her days constructing fanciful obstacle courses with her neighborhood friends outside and then designing a make-believe amusement park — inexplicably called Wonderland — with her mother at home. When her mother is struck ill by a mysterious disease and must leave the home for treatment, however, June’s grief suffocates her creativity and she rebels against this injustice by destroying the amusement park and retreating into a private cocoon of distrust and cynicism. As June reaches the nadir of her despondency she is magically transported to the world of Wonderland only to find that it is in the process of being destroyed by an all consuming maelstrom in the sky called The Darkness. June, with the help of her animal creations, must fight against The Darkness to rebuild Wonderland and restore it to its former glory.
This struggle serves as a perfect if not unintended metaphor for the film. Wonderland, excuse me, Wonder Park, is a confused film at war with itself that, in the end, is redeemed by the power of its own creativity and imagination.