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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 16 March 2019
The new animated 'Wonder Park' is at war with itself

By MARK KENNEDY can imagine.
Associated Press A simple, bucolic begin-
There's always that moment ning with the sunny char-
on roller coasters when the acters exuberantly crying
lap bar gets locked down "Splendiferous!" leads to a
and you slowly, agonizingly post-apocalyptic, violent
ride up to the first drop. You middle that includes killer
know the next few minutes plush dolls, deadly giant
are going to be harrowing robots, lava and existen-
— you just don't know how tial crisis. It then ends on a
bad. So here's a warning sickly sweet note. The tonal
about the new animated shifts alone are enough to
amusement park film "Won- make you want to hurl.
der Park" — it's going to be The cynicism and ultra-
more harrowing than you violence of Paramount's
This image released by Paramount Animation shows a scene from the animated film "Wonder
Park."
Associated Press
"Wonder Park " undermines adorable plush toy souve- of internecine conflict is the
some top-notch anima- nir monkeys in June's park title — "Wonder Park" — but
tion, which includes aston- have turned into a swarm- all the action takes place in
ishingly realized things like ing legion of weapon- "Wonderland," including all
matted fur on a boar, life- wielding Chimpanzombies the park's signage and lines
like potholes and intricate who try to drag away their like this: "You are the won-
leaves and ferns in a forest. screaming prey or control der in Wonderland." Appar-
There are roller coaster mo- a giant robot that tries to ently, something less than
ments that will make you crush all the cute animals. wonderful was happening
feel like you're on the ride Not splendiferous. behind the scenes.
yourself, gripping your seat. June is flabbergasted. The screenplay by long-
And John Oliver voices a She asks — like you may time writing partners Josh
rather great sassy porcu- — what's going on. "What Appelbaum and Andre
pine. But the film's message does it look like?" says a gi- Nemec ("Mission Impos-
of always keeping a cre- ant blue grizzly bear. "We're sible 4: Ghost Protocol" and
ative light shining gets hor- at war." Thus begins what "Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur-
ribly lost in the darkness. feels like hours of "Mad tles: Out of the Shadows")
The story centers on a cre- Max" meets "Interstellar" as does try new and refreshing
ative, green-eyed, red- June and her band of rag- things, like having an Indian
haired girl named June tag, squabbling animals — boy as a hero — when was
(voiced by Brianna Denski) including a solid Mila Kunis the last time an animated
who creates in her bed- and a very emoting Nor- figure yelled "Thank Krish-
room with her mom (Jenni- bert Leo Butz — try to restart na!"? — but also leans on
fer Garner, sweetness and the park and banish "the some cliches, including one
light) a fantasy park filled Darkness," a whirlpool of that should've been retired
with cool amusement park dark clouds in the heavens. long ago: The Terminally
rides and colorful talking (You may have a fun time Ill Parent Whose Absence
animals. She even brings to explaining all this in the car Wrenchingly Teaches Our
life a makeshift version on with your kids on the way Hero Self-Sufficiency.
the streets in the film's best home. But that time may "Wonder Park" has a great
sequence. But tragedy be quicker than you think; premise about a spunky kid
leads her to abandon the at a recent screening, a engineer and a world she
park, until one day June few young ones sobbed constructs taking flight, but
discovers it seems to have and immediately wanted takes a few too many dark
been actually construct- to leave.) loop-de-loops and crashes
ed in a nearby forest and Perhaps that mention of hard. If you pass this amuse-
abandoned. war is a telling one for this ment park, skip it.
Great idea, right? Sure, until production, which does "Wonder Park," a Para-
we realize this worn-at-the- not list a director in its cred- mount Animation release,
edges park is now more like its. (The previous person at is rated PG for "some mild
Jurassic Park than the Mag- the helm, Dylan Brown, was thematic elements and ac-
ic Kingdom. Three-quarters fired due to complaints of tion." Running time: 86 min-
of it looks like smoldering alleged inappropriate con- utes. One and a half stars
Nagasaki. The thousands of duct.) Another obvious sign out of four.q