Wonder 4K Blu-ray Review

Summary: Wonder follows the inspiring story of the Pullman family, whose youngest child, Auggie, is a boy born with facial differences. When Auggie enters mainstream elementary school for the first time, his extraordinary journey unites his family, his school, and his community, and proves that you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.

Movie Review: My kids haven’t gotten to reading the Wonder books yet, and neither my wife or I had any idea what they were about going into it. The movie is very well done, and a great film for both kids and adults. What sets it apart is that it shows the story from multiple sides. If one student interacts with Auggie, then you’ll also see some of the stories from his side, giving you better-developed characters than most kids stories offer. It doesn’t pander to you or try to excessively tug at the heartstrings, but just tells a good story and keeps you entertained while doing so. The day after watching it, my kids wanted to watch it again, so it certainly is one worth owning on disc because of that.

Technical Review: Wonder includes a Dolby Vision transfer, which we couldn’t evaluate quite yet, but also has an HDR10 version of course. While shot on a RED Camera at 6K resolution, the digital intermediate is only 2K, which is disappointing since this isn’t a VFX heavy film and probably could be done at 4K. The transfer isn’t flashy but takes advantage of the expanded contrast ratios and color gamuts that 4K offers. Simple scenes, like a sunset at a lake, look much better here than they do on the Blu-ray, and while it looks great it won’t be your demo disc.

The soundtrack is only a 7.1 version and not Atmos. It does the job in this dialogue-driven film but doesn’t have the opportunity to be dynamic at all. Surrounds are used some to build ambiance but not a lot, but it does a good job bringing across the surprisingly decent soundtrack.

Special Features:

• “Summer of Fun” 5-Part Documentary
  • “A (com)Passion Project” Featurette
  • “Family Matters” Featurette
  • “A Technical Wonder” Featurette
  • “A Note of Kindness” Featurette
  • “We All Deserve a Standing Ovation at Least Once in Our Lives” Featurette
• “A Child’s Sense of Wonder” Featurette
• “What a Wonderful World” Featurette
• Audio Commentary with Stephen Chbosky and R.J. Palacio
• “Brand New Eyes” Music Video
• Wonder Soundtrack: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette

Review System: , , , KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver, .