‘Wonka’ Movie Review: There’s Little Charm Or Pure Imagination In This Prequel
Photo from Warner Bros.
From Jeremy Kibler
As an origin story of how the eccentric chocolatier came to be, Wonka is a reminder that, in some cases, not every character needs one. It’s far less interesting to see how the sausage (or chocolate) was made, and moments of joy and pure imagination are just few and far between. This shouldn’t be, seeing as how it’s from writer-director Paul King and co-writer Simon Farnaby. King has given us two of the warmest, most sincerely funny, and perfectly delightful family films with Paddington and Paddington 2 (which Farnaby also co-wrote), and if you ever meet someone who doesn’t like either one of those films, you shouldn’t trust them. It gives me no pleasure to report that Wonka is more of a charlatan of magic than the genuine article.
A musical adaptation of Road Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory stands as a classic for good reason. Made 52 years ago, it’s still vividly designed, musically memorable, a little nightmarish and off-center, and genuinely magical. Many still whine about Tim Burton’s 2005 reimagining of the material with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the original title of Dahl’s story), but at least that film was wonderfully weird and visually dazzling, while giving us an entirely “different” Willy from Johnny Depp. With Wonka, the magic feels manufactured and false in a film that strains incredibly hard to be wacky and magical, only to end up feeling frantic, shrill, and annoying.
Before a single golden ticket, let alone a chocolate factory, Willy Wonka was penniless but wide-eyed and just learning how to make the best chocolate in the world. One night after journeying all over the world for cocoa beans, Willy finds a place to sleep and hang his hat. Unfortunately, the inn is run by the horrible Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman) and her right-hand dunce Bleacher (Tom Davis). (Mrs. Scrubbit comes across as a mix between Ms. Trunchbull and Miss Hannigan, the first of several Annie similarities.) By failing to read the fine print of a contract, Willy is indebted to work in their laundry prison. He still finds a way to sneak out every day to try and sell his chocolate, with the help of Scrubbit’s other indentured servants, dubbed the “Washroom Gang,” and orphaned moppet Noodle (an adorably plucky Calah Lane) whom Scrubbit allegedly just found in the laundry shoot as a baby. Standing in Willy’s way, however, is “The Chocolate Cartel,” compromised of three sniveling businessmen, Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Prodnose (Matt Lucas), and Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton).
Timothée Chalamet has proven time and again that he is those one of those once-in-a-generation talents, but his portrayal of a younger Willy Wonka in no way suggests that he would grow up to be Gene Wilder’s Wonka. Chalamet certainly looks the part in the magenta coat and top hat, courtesy of Lindy Hemming’s costume design (one of the film’s notable achievements), but lacks the inviting showmanship and borderline-sinister edge of Wilder or even the creepy innocence of Johnny Depp’s take. This Wonka never feels like a fully realized character, just a wacky, gee-whiz fool who thinks his chocolate don’t stink; it’s actually too bad King didn’t direct Chalamet to go a little stranger.
The rest of the overstuffed ensemble gets a little more to play, if only because they’re playing it so big to the backrow, including Olivia Colman, relishing her part as the deceitful Mrs. Scrubbit, and Keegan-Michael Key, who’s trapped in a bumbling fat suit as the chocoholic chief of police. With the exceptions of Noodle, plumber Piper (Natasha Rothwell), and Willy’s late Mamma (the wonderful Sally Hawkins in flashback scenes), everyone gets to ham it up and be a cartoonish nincompoop. The quantitative scenery-chewing becomes exhausting at best and grating at worst. On the other hand, initial reservations over an orange-skinned mini-Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa in the film’s trailers get mostly squashed in the film proper. Grant makes for a mischievous, even endearing Lofty and ends up being one of the film’s few bright spots.
If you want to view paradise, seek it elsewhere. King’s prequel just beats one down with cutesiness and slapstick without ever proving to be charming or ever landing the emotional connection it seeks. As for being a spectacle, a “manufacturing error” during Willy’s first attempt at selling his chocolate is the one visually inventive bit, and Nathan Crowley’s production design has its merits. Lest we forget the film is a musical, the original songs by Neil Hannon are all pretty forgettable, and the staging of the numbers is no more than capable. The strains of “Pure Imagination” make one smile, but only one song-and-dance number—“A World of Your Own” between Willy and Noodle being carried up by a balloon—actually sticks to the brain like taffy or drums up any sense of wonder. With enough whimsy coming out of its ears but not much charm, Wonka is more worthy of a “double ‘huh’,” counting as one of 2023’s biggest disappointments.
Rating: 1.5/5
Wonka hits theaters on December 15, 2023.
