Wonderland Review: Heartwarming Stories Feel Unfinished

In this science-fiction romantic-drama film, we explore how people reach out to and reconnect with their departed loved ones using AI technology. The movie explores these different stories of individuals as they try to grapple with their lives between reality and fiction.

With a huge batch of some of the biggest names in the Korean entertainment industry, Wonderland is a treat to watch. Its heartwarming stories are its biggest winners and its execution is its biggest flaw. Focusing on different stories of people who have lost someone close to them and thus take the help of cutting-edge new AI technology to feel close to them, the movie’s premise is new and explores grief and how different people tackle these situations. The stories are relatable, warm and make you want more of them.

However, that’s a problem with this movie. There is hardly any backstory about the technology or how or why it starts and we are just meant to accept the things that we see on-screen without any introduction. The movie suffers without these core explanations and can make anyone feel confused. Although that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to figure out what is happening at all, it still requires some explanation behind the madness at some point. The movie flows in and out from reality to dream which makes for quite an immersive experience.

In the same vein though, Wonderland feels very unfinished. Although the direction and cinematography are excellent, the movie suffers more because it oddly leaves its stories halfway and starts somewhere in the middle. This leaves you confused wondering why something is happening out of the blue because the movie doesn’t try to explain anything at any point. The stories have depth and emotion but these are topics that need deeper introspection that a 2 hour movie simply cannot provide. This should definitely have been a TV show, then it wouldn’t have felt like it’s rushing through its stories.

However, Wonderland‘s exploration of grief is pretty great and on-point and really hits you where it hurts. Some of these characters feel so human that it makes your heart hurt. Bae Suzy’s Jeong-in and Park Bo-gum’s Tae-joo are the most prominent characters in the movie and do a fantastic job with them. Their story is extremely unfinished, which makes this even worse because you’d expect the characters to get the most screen time to have a finished storyline.

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Bae Suzy and Park Bo-gum, however, are fantastic in their roles; Bo-gum, especially, is memorable. Tang Wei as Bai Li has an emotional storyline as well, but again, it is left quite unexplored. It’s confusing to watch her with Gong Yoo’s Sung-joon because his character is hardly written and it felt like the writers were confused about what to do with him.

After the first half of the movie is over, Wonderland becomes a little more convoluted in the sense that you start to question what is real and what is not. Again, the need to define how this technology works comes into play here, especially in Bai Li’s storyline. Do these simulations have their own life? Can they feel things? How is Bai Li feeling all of these feelings about Jia’s disappearance? These questions are left unanswered making us wonder whether these simulations are sentient in any way. And if they are sentient, what does that mean? Are they now real people trapped in the simulation? Is Gong Yoo God in this movie?

These questions and more leave us dissatisfied and confused with the intentions and direction of the film. The ending goes from science-fiction to fantasy, diverting from what it had started to something completely different. Science fiction is supposed to be rooted in reality at some point, with a believable explanation. The overdramatic ending of this movie is nothing short of disappointing and absolutely not rooted in anything remotely science fiction. The odd ending to both of these major stories is unbelievable, a little dumb and thoroughly disappointing.

Wonderland Review: Final Thoughts

This movie could’ve been so great had it juggled with one or two stories. The fact that it tries to make a ton of different heavy stories work is odd and everything ends up being half-baked. Characters and storylines don’t make sense and leave you feeling oh-so disappointed and, frankly, confused with the outcomes. All in all, I think Wonderland had the potential to be something thoroughly engaging and fulfilling, exploring grief and acceptance. However, it squanders it all away by juggling too much and ending up with a mess.

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