Wonderland Plot Summary
The story takes place in the heart of South Korea as the nation has embraced a new technology called Wonderland. This allows an AI simulation of loved ones who have passed away or are comatose to continue long-form communication under the illusion that they’ve simple “gone on holiday” or have travelled away for a while. The idea, in essence, is to soften the blow of grief and live under the illusion that they’re still alive. The film is basically a collection of short stories tied loosely together to show the different facets of how this technology works.
The first story centers on Bai-li, a deceased fund manager who is stuck inside the simulation, on an indefinite archaeology trip to the Middle East and communicating with her oblivious daughter Jai. In the middle of this, her grieving grandmother who is tasked with looking after her.
Secondly, we have arguably the best storyline in the entire movie. There are parallels here to Spielberg’s A.I. as a woman, Jung-in, communicates with her boyfriend while her real partner is comatose. Only, when her actual boyfriend awakens, it sets up a sort of three-way dilemma between them.
Finally, we have Hae-ri and her colleague Jung-woo who are in charge of Wonderland and get involved with various other individuals who want to be part of the service. And this is obviously where everything tries to connect together but in a rather crowbarred and forced manner.
What happens with Tae-ju and Jung-in?
After awakening from his coma, Tae-ju is just not the same as he was before. Jung-in longs for the Wonderland version of her boyfriend, setting up tension between them. If that wasn’t enough, his personality seems to gave changed and he acts differently than he initially did too. He hosts parties and he even forgets Jung-in’s medication or waking her up too; little thoughtful moments that Wonderland Tae-ju remembered.
Jung-in and Tae-ju start to drift apart, and when the real Tae-ju finds out about the service, he’s crushed. However, Jung-in agrees to open up to him. She admits how she felt and why she initially chose space too. This was the furthest place away from where she was, demonstrating the distance between them, both emotionally and physically too.
Tae-ju accepts this and decides to walk away. However, Jung-in realizes she can’t turn away from her lover now and cancels the service, rushing after Tae-ju and reuniting with him.
Now, in the midst of all this we also learn that Hyun-soo and Jung-in
Does Bai-li become sentient?
Bai=li is the first person we meet at the start of the movie and she has accepted her fake reality inside Wonderland. However, she continues to see her deceased husband, Sung-woon, too. When Jai goes missing at the airport, she finds out and awakens within her simulation and becomes sentient (a very real threat with AI nowadays). She starts driving toward the operating system, which messes everything up for all the other AIs currently inside their heavens.
Bai-li makes it to the OS, while Hyun-soo and Hae-ri, the engineers on the outside, contemplate “turning her on and off again”. This is something Hae-ri did with her parents, hinting that this isn’t the first time that AI have become sentient inside the Operating System.
Hae-ri decides to open the network for Bai-li, who reappears in the airport. There’s network interference there (in the same place that Tae-ju is currently waiting at for Jung-in). He gets a call from Bai-li but this timeline is before he actually boards the plane to Barcelona it seems.
Does Jai learn the truth?
The crackled AI voice of Bai-li asks him for help in finding Jai, and he does so. Tae-ju finds her at the emergency exit escaping out onto the runway. He saves her from being hit by a car. Back inside the airport, Jai reunites with her grandmother and finally learns the truth about her mum. There’s a really nice shot to symbolize this, as they both end up in the same spot together. Here though, Bai-li breaks the news that she’s actually passed away and Jai is alright with it, deciding they should continue reading bedtime stories all the same.
After their earlier argument, Bai-li and her mum patch up their differences. Bai-li thanks her and promises to return the favour one day in the next life they have as mother and daughter.
The system turns itself back on after Bai-li initiates her “objective” and returns whence she came. Hae-ri and Jung-in sigh in relief.
How does Wonderland end?
Wonderland ends as we began; with Bai-li and her husband at the airport about to leave. It was clear something was up from the beginning given they were both speaking English (how many others thought the dubbing was on by mistake?) but now, as Bai-li leaves, her husband goes the opposite direction and they part ways.
During the epilogue, Hyun-soo catches up with his mum, and we find out that Yong-sik (the guy who passed earlier in the movie) and her know each other. She apologizes and they patch up their differences.