Based on a best-selling novel, but not a true story, Wonder is the sort of life affirming tale to leave you with a warm heart and tears in the eye. Auggie was born with a “craniofacial difference” and has to face school for the first time. We get to see the impact and trials of this from his perspective and that of his family and friends.

Writer / Director Stephen Chbosky’s previous film The Perks of Being a Wallflower was able to perfectly encapsulate teenage coming of age, high school and emotional trauma. Here he manages to balance obvious sentimentality by not just focusing on Auggie (an unrecognisable Jacob Tremblay) but by giving equal time to his sister Via (Izabela Vidovic) and each of their best friends. It’s a welcome change to see that Auggie’s affliction didn’t impact just him and that it also results in some p behaviour on his part.

Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson are fine as the sort of aspirational parents who everyone would love to be, whilst Mandy Patinkin, Ali Liebert and Daveed Diggs are the perfect teachers at the expensive prep school Auggie attends. Ultimately the acting honours go to the younger generation though.

The film does lose its way near the end, having told everyone’s story it needs to get us to the end of the school year to provide a resolution and finds itself meandering to that close.

Overall though it does what it sets out to achieve and I suspect will leave not a dry eye in the house.