I didn’t expect the nominal sequel to the 2017 film Wonder to be about a girl being hidden from the Nazis during WW2. Wonder was a joyful and sad modern day film about a kid with a physical deformity so not sure how we got form one boy’s misadventures with bullies to, you know, the entirety of WWII… but here we are?

The film is about the bully from the first film as he tries to settle into his new school. But his granny (Dame Helen Mirren) takes him aside and explains how she – as a Jewish girl – survived Nazi occupied France.

This flick has a strong opening, a strong ending, and a middling middle. My interest in the flick vastly plummeted due to a very generic “hiding the Jewish girl from the Nazis” storyline… which is honestly a hard plot to get wrong, but this movie managed it. Not that it doesn’t have its harrowing moments and not because we don’t deserve to have this kind of story retold. It’s just that THIS movie crashed to a halt as we waded through her lonely fear in between a sappy teen romance.

But getting to that part – watching as rights are stripped away as the Nazi occupation increases – was quite good. And many a moment in the final act – both at the end of the war and in the present – were pretty solid. It’s full of reminders we should endorse and increase kindness that made me warm inside, and worried too because it can always slip away.

I’m less sure they needed the framing device that was basically a sequel to Wonder… but I’ll assume that was brought over as part of the book adaptation. Maybe it fit better thematically in the novel?

So I’m a little mixed on this flick but I think its overall message and its production in its first and third act were strong enough to overwhelm a weak middle. And it’s always a nice to be reminded to increase the peace.

Score: 82