When Wonder Park, the embattled Paramount and Nickelodeon animated film, released its first trailer, we had some concerns. Now, we have even more.
The original question, which still stands, is: How does the theme park in this movie (which may or may not actually be named Wonder Park) get its denizens? The whole thing seems to be run by animals and one small child, so it stands to reason that they’re not exactly running a business here with robust ticket sales, safety regulations, and concession stands. Did these animals kidnap a buncha people?
Now, after seeing the second trailer for Wonder Park, I have even more questions. Specifically: what is the history of theme parks in this world? Per this trailer, we get more of the actual story outline of the film, which stars the voices of Jennifer Garner, Kenan Thompson, and John Oliver, among others. The young heroine, June, creates a theme park in her backyard, to disastrous effect.
Defeated temporarily but not in spirit, June absconds to the woods? I guess? And finds… the real theme park she imagined, built IRL, and probably also constructed in detail in Rollercoaster Tycoon? And it’s buried in the forest, watched over by talking animals, one of whom is John Oliver.
OK, uh, how does a theme park get buried in the forest? Provided this isn’t some profound act of imagination on the heroine’s part, this suggests a world with such a history that a theme park could be very old, and could go not just abandoned but forgotten long enough for it to be almost entirely reclaimed by vegetation. What apocalyptic terror would be necessary to create these conditions? What, but some awful act of violence or disaster, could create such a rift in collective memory? Whither is your history, Wonder Land? What has become of you?
Oh, yeah, and this movie looks pretty cute, too. It comes out April 2019.