The movie “Wonder” is about a 5th grade boy named August Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) who has Mandibulofacial Dysostosis, a genetic disorder that causes facial deformity along with a variety of other symptoms. August had been homeschooled his whole life up until 5th grade when his parents decided he should attend Beecher Prep, a mainstream school.

August is upset with his parent’s decision because of the reactions his fellow classmate will have when they see him, but he agrees to go. He befriends two students, Jack Will (Noah Jupe) and Summer Dawson (Millie Davis), early on. The other students are not so quick to accept August and some bully him by calling him names, sending him rude notes, and participating in a game called “The Plague.” A student would catch “The Plague” if he or she touched August and did not wash his or her hands immediately afterward. The game was created by Julian Albans (Bryce Gheisar) who was also leading the other students in bullying August. Eventually, the other students stop listening to Julian and started being kind to August.

The movie is based on the book by R.J. Palacio. The book is narrated from the point of view of six different characters. The movie does a decent job of showing the story from the point of view of multiple characters, but only shows four of them. There were quite a few differences between the book and movie. Most of the changes were small and did not affect the overall plot. The one major difference was the role that Summer played in the story. In the book, she was the first person to sit with August at lunch and not worry about what her classmates thought, while in the movie Jack was the one who sat with August first. Originally, Jack was skeptical about being friends with August and only went out of his way to be nice because the Principal asked him to. Summer chose to befriend August on her own, and the movie took the power away from her character and greatly decreased the importance she had in the story.

Overall, “Wonder” is a great movie and does the book justice. The movie is rated PG, would be good for families, and most importantly, conveys the message to always be kind.