Before yesterday I had completely forgotten Paramount and Nickelodeon’s new animated film Wonder Park. Now having watched the trailer I still have no idea what it’s about. It kinda looks like a bunch of humans were kidnapped and taken to a mysterious amusement park that appears out of thin air and is run by animals. It’s like Tomorrowland meets that CBS series, Zoo.
Actually, that might be more of an accurate description than expected because the film comes from producers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, who created Zoo in the first place. And sure enough Wonder Park, or “Wonderland” as it’s strangely referred to in the teaser trailer, is staffed by talking animals. Will they eventually be feasting on these unsuspecting human visitors? It’s not like they paid the price of admission or anything. They apparently sprung from the mind of a little girl named June.
Here’s the movie’s super vague synopsis, which also suggests something sinister is afoot: “Wonder Park tells the story of a magnificent amusement park where the imagination of a wildly creative girl named June comes alive.”
Lastly, this is one of those animated flicks with no clear director. That’s just spooky, it’s like this thing was willed into existence, just like the park itself. In reality the original director Dylan Brown was fired over “inappropriate and unwanted conduct”, and was never replaced. Again, that’s just spooky. It’s like his spirit lingers in the editing booth. Also canned from the film? Jeffrey Tambor, whose history of misconduct is well-documented enough that I don’t need to go into it.
The voice cast is pretty good, though, led by Jennifer Garner, Mila Kunis, Ken Jeong, Matthew Broderick, and Kenan Thompson. Wonder Park opens March 15th 2019 and will then launch a new TV series like any self-respecting Nickelodeon movie should.
