"Wonderstruck" is a movie for thinking people. Though it isn't necessary to take notes during the first ninety minutes it would help when the puzzle is put together in the last twenty-five minutes.

We are following the story of 2 children opening when 10-11-year-old Ben is struck deaf by lightning and the loss of his mother, never having known his father. His story takes place in the late 1970s and is told in full color. 

The other child, Rose, has been deaf since birth and, all her scenes are in black and white presented as a silent movie, has an absentee mother. Both leave home, she from Hoboken, New Jersey and he from Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, to go to New York for her to connect with her mother and him to find his father.

Their stories are kept separate, each getting equal time and easy to follow until they intertwine in a very believable fashion but unless you watch and listen closely you could get lost in how Rose and Ben are related.

It would be difficult to continue the review without giving spoilers regarding the story, with the screenplay written by Brian Selznick who wrote the original best-selling children's book here turned into a story for people of all ages.

Ben is played by Oakes Fegley and Rose by deaf actress Millicent Simmonds with the latter making a stunning debut. Joining Ben in his search is Jamie, played by Jaden Michael, when the two boys meet on the streets of New York. The three kids have the leading roles and are stand-outs.

Julianne Moore plays two different roles, each important to the figuring out the puzzle within the film while Michele Williams, as Ben's mother, basically has a cameo in the film as most of the adults do.

There is no doubt the 'star' of this film is the director Todd Haynes who ties the story, the actors, the very effective music for both eras along with the costumes, sets and photography. The beginning calls for a lot of patience from the movie-goer but they are pulled first into the separate stories and then watching it all come together.

Full disclosure: Though I followed all the pieces of the puzzle fitting together when I got home I had to look up certain relationships to make sure I had followed it correctly.

Movie trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1vV0oorclg