PG 2023 Fantasy/Musical 1h 56m
Before I get to the review, let me get some caveats out of the way. I really liked 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. I did not like 2005 Johnny Depp’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Timothée Chalamet’s career is on fire, but I can usually take him or leave him; he doesn’t really move my needle either way. With all that on the table, I really wasn’t sure if I would like, love or just hate Wonka. Drum roll… I loved it.
Wonka is a prequel to the Chocolate Factory, set when Willy was a young man who just arrived in town with the hopes of becoming a chocolatier. Although a new era, this is still a Roald Dahl-inspired world so good guys are good, bad guys are bad and magic exists on the fringe of reality. Willy gets tricked into an insurmountable debt to a villainous laundress, Mrs. Scrubitt (Olivia Colman). Also standing in Willy’s way is a triad of established chocolate makers, a corrupt Chief of Police (Keegan-Michael Key) and a priest (Rowan Atkinson). Willy is not alone, however; he has a small group of allies who are also in forced labor at the laundry and are willing to help Willy follow his dream.
Director/writer Paul King also made Paddington and Paddington 2; both of those movies were top notch family movies and Wonka is the best family movie of 2023 so far (and it’s mid-December). The cast he has assembled is a British who’s who. “Oh, look it’s Mr. Carson from ‘Downton Abbey.’” “Hey, that’s the lady from 'Ghosts.'” And lots of folks from the Paddington movies e.g., Sally Hawkins, Hugh Grant, etc. Grant is a scene stealer as an Oompa-Loompa.
Wonka is visually interesting and the music is arguably better than the 1971 movie. The songs are catchy, mostly upbeat, and filled with nonsensical, humorous rhyming words. Chalamet makes a great Wonka; he has a nice voice and commits to the part. The movie uses CGI to good effect to create a magical world of colors and wonder. I felt like a kid in a candy store. (Sorry.)
Wonka is one of the best movies of the year. Top to bottom just terrific.
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