It’s a good one for young viewers to take home, but perhaps director Stephen Chbosky followed it too slavishly when adapting RJ Palacio’s bestselling children’s novel. 

The hero of this family tearjerker is Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), an awkward 10-year-old who suffers from facial deformities as a result of a rare genetic condition. 

Don’t worry, he doesn’t look as disfigured as most readers imagined him to be. 

There are some powerful moments as the home-taught Auggie struggles to fit in at his first school and Izabela Vidovic convinces as his loving big sister Via, who feels mildly neglected by her Auggie-obsessed parents (Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson).  

But there has to be some grit present to jerk this reviewer’s tears. 

Here all teachers are wise and gentle, bullies are easily won over, wealthy parents rarely go to work and every conflict is a simple misunderstanding. 

It’s kind, but it doesn’t feel quite right.