Wonder Park shows us that our imagination is a wonderful thing.

Disclaimer: The Fandads attended an early screening of Wonder Park in exchange for a review and product for a giveaway. All words, thoughts, opinions, and love of chimpan-zombies are our own. 

As a child, the one thing that we have that makes playing with our toys so much fun is our imagination. With our imagination, we take our toys to far away worlds and have adventures that some time rival the books and movies that we see. In these worlds, our characters have lives of their own and rely on you for their next adventure. What would happen to these characters if you lose your imagination? What would happen to this world if you never went back? Thankfully, Wonder Park is here to give us some answers to those questions.

Wonder Park tells the story of a magnificent amusement park where the imagination of a wildly creative girl named June comes alive. One magical day, June is running through the woods to find her way home where she discovers an old rollercoaster car and climbs inside. She suddenly finds herself in Wonderland, an amusement park she had created in her mind and put aside. All of her rides and characters are brought to life but are falling into disarray without her. Now, with the help of her fun and lovable park characters, June will have to put the wonder back in Wonderland before it is lost
forever.

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Now while that is the synopsis from the studios there is obviously more to the story. Not only does June create Wonderland, but she does it with the help of her mother. From their interaction, we can see that the relationship between the mother and daughter is very strong and we see how they enjoy their time together making Wonderland. As with most animated movies, something happens to one of the parents. Now while this film does hit you in the feels early on, it is a great plot device that helps advance the movie.

Since the relationship between the mother and June is imperative to the creation of Wonderland, when the mother is not around to help, June loses interest and this starts affecting the world of Wonderland and her relationship with her friends. This is one of the great things about the movie, June is the girl that helps her friends create and explore by building roller coasters in the neighborhood and helps them fix things that are broken. When June decides that she does not want to create any more, her friends try to be there for her, but she shuts them out.

I think this is something that many people have experienced before and can relate to. After something unexpected happens, people tend to lose joy in the things that once made them happy. They tend to put things aside and sooner or later they never go back to those things. This is something that as a parent you do not want to see happen in your child. You want your child to hold on to the things that make them happy for as long as they can. You never want your children to grow up too fast.

Wonder Park, shows us what can happen when a child loses their imagination by using the park as a metaphor for what is probably happening in their mind. We see with the help from the characters of Wonderland that June is able to find her passion again and create new and wonderful things.

Another great aspect of Wonder Park is the entire building process of June and her mother for the rides in Wonderland. They both imagine what the rides will be, look like and what they will do. Who would have thought os creating a merry-go-round with fish and when you tap the fishes head they fly throughout the park? Creating this merry-go-round, they draw it out, then use household materials to build it. Not only is this a great movie about holding on to your imagination, but also a great way to show the importance of STEAM in the classroom. Check out this site to see some great lesson that you can do with your children, including building your own roller coaster.

Final Thoughts: Wonder Park is a fun movie that teaches the importance of imagination and not letting go of the things you love. The movie shows that although there are "dark clouds" hovering over your world, you can make them go away with by continuing to do the things that make you happy.

Kid Friendly: This is an animated movie that has talking animals, so it is great for ages 5 and up. The topic of the mother's illness might be a little too much, but if they have seen any Disney movie, they will be familiar with the Disney formula of offing parents in the first 10 minutes. This movie does redeem itself.

Violence: There is really nothing in the movie that would be considered violent. There are some scary moments with the chimpan-zombies though.

Fandads Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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