Wonderstruck

2017 drama

Rating: 13/20

Plot: Deaf kids.

I enjoy the work of Brian Selznick and figured I might enjoy this. It's a very Selznickian story, and if you've ever read through any of his books (or seen Hugo, I guess), you'll know what that means. They're always ambitious, and Wonderstruck might be a little too ambitious as it has a tough time bouncing between the two characters and their time periods. At times, this jars, and some individual scenes just seem to go on for too long. The pacing never feels right. As things come together, it's fairly easy to predict what's going to happen, and that takes away some of the emotional impact. There are some beautiful moments, and the period detail is about as impressive as I can remember seeing. As a whole, it just doesn't work all that well.

I'm proud to say that I've now seen every movie with "wonder" in the title now. Or maybe with the #MeToo movement, I shouldn't be too proud of seeing one of those.