This is a charming family fantasy musical with a hugely talented lead actor and I've no doubt children everywhere will be in raptures watching it. But it is all a little lacklustre and the dark edge of Roald Dahl's famous character is nowhere to be seen here. Timothée Chalet portrays him as a thoroughly likeable and naïve young adventurer who arrives in 19th century Paris with the ambition to open a chocolate shop using his late mother's recipes. The Willy Wonka from the book and even the Gene Wilder film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) has that scary side of the character that children are meant to fear. This film has the stereotypical cartoonish baddies (Olivia Colman and Tom Davis) who trap the young Willy in their sweatshop laundry at the behest of the nasty chocolate kings who dominate the market and don't want any cocky new competition. So Willy has to escape and expose all these baddies so he can finally realise his dreams. There's an orphan story running alongside the main plot and Chalet handles the average songs with aplomb. But it's Hugh Grant as the original Oompah Loompah who steals the show. There's a host of British talent here and Sally Hawkins cameos as Wonka's mother in a high production and pleasant enough film that is ok. Director Paul King hasn't really captured that magic he managed to bottle in Paddington (2014) and it's sequel.
OK so, this is really a kids' film, I suppose BUT will they be transfixed by it? I doubt it, even though it tries EVER SO HARD to please them, and I mean very VERY VERRYYYY hard - ticks all the boxes and has funny accents and costumes and animals and all, and more. All done by the book, with goodies, baddies, set pieces, lush scenery in a fantasy town (based on Oxford with the Bridge of Sighs of Hertford College and Radcliffe Camera/Bodleian library, and the Old Town Tower in Prague for the church), and the usual three-act structure of a QUEST with a big setback before the final triumph. But it just has no ZING to it, no SPARKLE, despite the great cast and immense cost. Chemistry, I suppose.
It even adds 2 top songs from the early 1970s US film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The 2 best ones - Imagination and the Oompa Loompa song, each cowritten by David Bowie's great hero. Anthony Newley with Leslie Bricusse who died aged 90 in 2021 - they also wrote the song FEELING GOOD for another musical of theirs, recorded later by Nina Simone. I have always liked the Divine Comedy and Neil Hannon BUT the new songs here are just mediocre and unmemorable - just like the stage musical of Charlie I saw in 2013, which also lifted the memorable early 1970s Imagination song for the finale. The final theme song A Hatful of Dreams just about cuts the mustard BUT it is no match for the song IMAGINATION.
But it all somehow falls as flat as the mediocre unmemorable melodies. Not sure why. The acting is fine, and the casting too (though the usual diverse casting of now is yawnfully evident). I especially liked Tom David as Mr Bleacher, he was great in superb Channel 4 sitcom THE CURSE, and also Simon Farnaby as Basil the Zoo Keeper, he is great in DETECTORISTS and many other TV comedy shows).
Best of all I liked Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa (who gave me my only laugh during the whole movie) BUT kids should know that orange-faced green-haired people were ONLY invented for the early 1970s US film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the book there is NO description at all in the version we all read. In the original Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, only published in the USA where Roald Dahl lived in 1964, the Oompa-Loompas are described as little black African pygmies. It was changed in later editions after criticism by a journalist/reviewer at the time of civil rights. of course if one REA:LLY wants to be right-on woke and pc, one can cite this whole film and story as cultural appropriation as chocolate was taken from South America by invaders from Spain/Portugal. That is how to get yourself tied in the multiple tangled knots of wokery. Plenty of fatshaming in this film too, and mocking the poor, and casual violence - as befitting the cartoon characters here.
So 2 stars from me. I doubt children would give it more. They'll probably demand to watch the US film WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971), apparently a Christmas Day traditional film on TV in the USA. In the UK, my generation did not see it until we were adults BUT we had the book, which is better.
My wife and I thought Wonka was brilliant fun and we found it very funny. Watch out for all the UK comedians who make appearances.
A prequel film about the story of Willy Wonka’s rise to power doesn’t sound like the most enticing of films. But if there’s anybody who could make this whimsical tale work, it’d be director Paul King. Having previously showcased a lavish wholesomeness with his Paddington films, King’s work has this air of feeling clever yet charming and sweet in a palatable manner for the family. He delivers that same level of magic with Wonka, even if it’s not as robust a tale as the Paddington movies (nothing can top Paddington 2).
Introduced in song and a brightly wondrous vision of a Dickens-style Europe, Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) is a young man with big dreams. Having traveled the world and researched the most magical of chocolates, he’s ready to show his inventions and candy. The problem is that he’s not given the warmest welcome. His first day finds him spending nearly all his money and falling into the trap of a hotel managed by the swindling duo of Bleacher (Tom Davis) and Mrs. Scrubitt (Olivia Colman). No matter. Wonka figures he’ll sell enough chocolate to escape their financial clutches. That dream turns out to be tough when the entire town is under the control of the chocolate boss, Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph). With little to no funds and a grand conspiracy against his magical candies, the blossoming businessman will have to cleverly maneuver his way to success, perhaps with the aid of the chipper orphan Noodle (Calah Lane).
This type of film mostly works because Paul King does his own thing with the Willy Wonka story. Even though he clearly evokes the same styles as the 1971 film, there’s rarely a moment where it feels like this is a pale prequel. In truth, it feels closer in that wholesome tone to the Paddington films, where good-natured people seem to make the world brighter and always succeed over the cackling villains. That sense of wonder comes through beautifully with the imaginative depiction of this European city and some songs to match. The good news is that songs don’t feel like retreads of past iterations. The bad news is that they probably won’t be anywhere near as memorable with their good-but-not-great lyrics.
The entire cast also feels like they work in their own right rather than attempting to line up with the Willy Wonka story. I particularly dug how Slugworth was more a vicious, corrupt official than a quietly conspiring villain. Chalamet also does a solid job portraying Wonka with more inspiration and chipperness than a knowing cynicism for the world. The only part of the film that doesn’t seem to work as well as it should is the late addition of Hugh Grant as a CGI-created Oompa Loompa by the name of Lofty. His addition is strange, as the film is doing just fine without his dry and wry commentary being tossed on top. At least Grant does have some charm, even if he’s coated in orange and shrunk down for this role.
The visual splendor of Wonka is enough to warrant this latest retread of the Roald Dahl classic novel. The performances are smile-worthy all around, and the production design is a colorful dose of allure that matches the sweet tone of the entire story. It’s no substitute for Mel Stuart’s unforgettable musical of 1971 or Tim Burton’s genuine weirdness of the 2005 adaptation. But it works well enough with the material to be as tasty as the candy, sugary enough to forget the empty calories.