Wonder Park – Review

Wonder Park – Budget of $80 – 100 million – 1 hour and 25 minutes

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June and her mother sit and create Wonder Park using her stuff animals as employees.  Boomer the bear greets everyone who enters.  Gus and Cooper are beavers who help create the park.  Greta is a boar that keeps everyone motivated.  Steve, a porcupine, is the safety officer.  Peanut, the monkey, is the mascot and park creator.  When June wants something built in the park. her mother puts a marker in Peanut’s hand and whispers it into Peanut’s ear.  However, the drawing of Wonder Park isn’t enough.  June wants the real thing and builds a roller coaster with her best friend Banky.  They wreck most of the neighborhood.  After Mr. Bailey writes countless checks to the neighbors, Mrs. Bailey decides to let June build a replica size version of the park inside the house.  Soon the park stretches all over the house and sparks June’s love of math and engineering.  While playing, Mrs. Bailey has bad stomach pains.  It’s discovered that she is sick and must go away to get better.  Heartbroken, June can’t work up the nerve to play Wonder Park and puts it all away.  Now, June monitors her father’s health down to his sugar level.  When her aunt and uncle come over and try to spark her interest in the park, June throws the plans in the fireplace.  In the coming weeks, Mr. Bailey convinces June to go to Math Camp with Banky.  After finding a note from her dad in her lunch, she escapes the bus to save her dad.  In the woods, she uncovers a tram car.  The car leads her to the real Wonder Park.  The park was taken over by Chimpan-zombies after a dark cloud released a gas creating them.  They are destroying the park and kidnapped Peanut.  Greta is doing everything she can to keep the park up with Boomer, Gus, Steve, and Cooper but they can’t get the park’s main control panel to start.  When Greta finds out that June created the park, she believes June can fix it.  However, June must let go of her pain and believe in herself to save the park and the animals she loves so much.

Leave it to a cartoon to pack so many emotions in so little time.  For parents, you will watch 2/3’s of the movie, before she enters the park and meets the other characters.  This time allows you to see the connection June has with each of her parents and the importance of the park.  So you will have to keep the little ones still until this time.  The last third of the movie is met with wondrous animation and of a park you wish could be real.  Maybe someday it will be.  And while it does have a PG rating, the more mature jokes will not be understood by young children.  Also, if you have a child with a sick adult, the story arch may be too much for them to handle at this time.  It’s an adventurous and ambitious story with some good punchlines.  But 3D is not necessary.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

Did you hear the joke about dehydration? No. That’s right because there’s nothing funny about dehydration – Steve

But don’t destroy the neighborhood – Mrs. Bailey

I’m alive.  Thanks, Krishna – Banky

Thank you whoever you are, where ever you come from – Peanut

I’m gonna have to make some very aggressive deletes – Mr. Bailey

Bring it down, Grindelwald – Greta

Military school is far and you will miss me – June

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Five Feet Apart – Review

Five Feet Apart – Budget of $7 million – 1 hour and 56 minutes

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Stella was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and developed OCD centered around her regimen.  Her nurses Barb and Julie give her control of her med cart because she is organized and responsible.  In a brief moment, she sees Will selling his bed to his friends for sex.  Will follows her to the NICU and he tries to engage her in a conversation.   He reveals he hasn’t been following his regimen, putting Stella into a panic. He has CF with B. cepacia.  He will never be able to get a transplant.  He is on an experimental drug but his hopes are down.  Stella decides to do their treatments together with the app she developed and FaceTime.  She would like to get to know him better, but she has to stay 6 feet apart at all times.  This is the standard for anyone with CF because if they are too close they could catch each other’s bacteria.  If she gets B. cepacia, she won’t be able to get a transplant in the future.  Like most teenagers, they start to sneak off to be together.  But after a moment of honesty, Stella decides to take back 1 foot.  She uses a pool cue too keep them 5 feet apart and wear latex gloves.  The two fall in love and wish they could touch.  After a devastating loss, Stella wants to gain control of her life.  But this control will lead Will to make a crushing choice: Killing Stella or watching her die.

Based on the novel Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott with Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, this movie brings CF to the forefront (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer).  While this movie is geared toward teens, adults can learn about CF too.  This movie falls between the lamb/lion plot of Twilight and the painful truth of The Fault in Our Stars with the forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet.  You will get misty-eyed and hope for their love to continue.  But this story remains true to life and gives you an ending that’s honest instead of deserved.  It’s a clean love story your teen can watch with you.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

It’s just life. It will be over before you know it – Will

This disease is a prison. I wish I could hold you – Po

I’m deaf – Stella

What if it does – Julie

I am so sorry baby – Barb

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Captive State – Review

Captive State – Budget of $25 million – 1 hour and 50 minutes

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In 2020, aliens invaded the earth and shut down the power grid.  In order to live, the leaders brokered a peace treaty.  Humans would gather resources and build a city underground. In turn, they will allow humans to live in closed cities.  All communication is monitored and bugs are implanted in humans necks to track their every movement.  Any human that attempts to rebel is captured and sent to prison off-planet.  During the invasion, Gabriel lost his parents to “the roaches”.  Nine years later, his brother, Raphel, is dead after trying to liberate humans in a rebellion.  Now, Gabriel is preparing to leave the closed city and travel to freedom.   He has a boat, a gun, his best friend, but he still needs to pass information to The Phoenix to get money.  This information will start a chain of events that will cause The Phoenix to rise again.

This is a mystery/espionage movie disguised as a thriller.  You can’t miss the opening scenes in this film or you will miss the entire setup for the movie.  The overall plot is well thought out for the viewer.  You can understand how humans gave into the aliens after the wars.  If this movie becomes a cult classic, it will spawn a part two.  However, the ending leaves you satisfied with a single movie.  This is a good movie to see in theaters with sensible special effects but one time is enough.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts – Priscilla

I can’t protect you anymore – Bill

What do you want from me – Gabriel

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