Wonka

When people initially saw the trailers for Wonka, they were caught off guard and not very impressed. The idea of forcing an origin story onto a character that, while a very popular icon from the original Roald Dahl story, wasn’t someone anyone thought needed exploration and screamed of Hollywood desperately wishing to exploit another popular IP. That mixed with advertising that didn’t show the film off in the best light and a seemingly miscast Timothée Chalamet in the leading role, it wasn’t setting itself up well. However, things started to change once word of mouth started to spread, with many actually being genuinely surprised at how likeable, vibrant, and entertaining the film was. This sparked a new public image for the film and suddenly after a bitter beginning, Wonka turned from an idea nobody wanted, into a film that everybody found ”oh so sweet”. Magician and aspiring chocolate maker, Willy Wonka (played by Timothée Chalamet) arrives in Europe to open his own chocolate shop in the Galaries Gormet, hoping to fulfill his dream in memory of his late mother (played by Sally Hawkins). This, however, is halted by fellow chocolate makers, Felix Fickelgruber, Gerald Prodnose, and Arthur Slugworth (played by Matthew Baynton, Matt Lucas and Paterson Joseph), who are threatened by Wonka’s wacky and extremely delicious treats and try to have him taken care of. After being tricked into becoming a slave for a boarding house run by Mrs. Scrubitt (played by Olivia Colman) and her henchman, Bleacher (played by Tom Davis), Wonka forms a bond with an orphan girl also stuck in the building called Noodle (played by Calah Lane) and convinces her to help him sneak out during the day to sell his chocolates in order to earn enough money to work off his (as well as every other hostage of this building’s) debt. With the three chocolate makers (who are all part of an underground faction known as the Chocolate Cartel) being privy to Wonka’s brilliance and wishing to snuff him out, even going as far as to bribe the chocolate-addicted chief of police (played by Keegan Michael Key) to halt his extravagant (and often music-filled) demonstrations, problems encroach on Wonka at every turn, yet none are able to quiet his infectious attitude and his chocolate-laced dreams come closer to reality with each subsequent purchase. Wonka is a surprise delight and does a much better job at entertaining its audience than anticipated. It’s true that the script is a little predictable, there’s a few hiccups with the pacing, and it isn’t a jaw-dropping musical experience by any means, but with solid performances, inviting production value and a decent grasp on its environment and tone through capable direction, it results in a solid fun time.

With Warner Brothers leading the production after acquiring the rights for the character in 2016, the desire to make a film based around this beloved chocolate maker was made pretty evident by the brisk speed in which they secured Paul King as director, David Hayman and Michael Siegel as producers, and combing through several different casting choices for the titular role like Tom Holland, Donald Glover, Ryan Gosling and even Ezra Miller (that would’ve birthed something horrific, so dodged a bullet there). Being in the pop culture space for some time now and already being associated with musicals in the past, there is potential to take this mysteriously whimsical candy man and create a story around his life, but it would need a strong guiding hand to get it just right, and the film definitely hit bullseye in that department. A lot of the film’s goodwill as well as a reasoning behind many giving it a chance, came down to discovering Paul King was going to be the director, as his past work on the Paddington films proved he was an incredible talent who could construct these kid-friendly stories in a manner that was disgustingly cutesy and sweet, yet never pandering and always enjoyable and heart-warming. With hindsight, he seems like a perfect fit for the world of Roald Dahl, and you can see how his strengths really bring a life and personality to this environment. It is an insanely quirky and goofy world, yet the characters are rich in personality and charm, the logic is still defined and controlled within its own boundaries so it’s not totally illogical or hard to comprehend, and despite the first act feeling a little too sappy, it balances out this bucket load of sweetness with a meaner undertone later on to provide some form of stability. There is a strong lack of harsh cruelty (which is a staple quality for most Dahl stories) so it isn’t a flawless replication, but the light stuff feels appropriately wild without being too overboard and it has enough of a cynical edge to prevent a sugar rush. His involvement definitely assisted the film, especially since the story actually isn’t that effective of an origin story. It can be pretty predictable, the screenplay by King and Simon Farnaby (who is known for writing books like Yonderland, Ghost and Horrible Histories) doesn’t do much to make the conflicts or the resolutions feel that fulfilling, the dialogue at times does a good job capturing the wordplay often found in Dahl’s stores, yet other times just feels like straightforward modern dialogue, and although nothing is insultingly simple, it’s a tale that doesn’t really leave much of an impression, being a film that survives on its surrounding ingredients rather than its main one.

The characters aren’t extremely fleshed out or have a lot of their stories, yet through King’s presentation and a lot of talented actors, this movie is chock full of memorable faces. King seems to be able to bring out a lot of personality from any random actor and make them instantly likeable regardless of how minute their involvement is, it’s something about his direction that always livens up a picture, and this film does that with every character, big or small. Being the most important role to get right, Wonka is a bit of a mixed bag in this. On the one hand, this is arguably the closest a live adaptation has ever come to his book counterpart, matching the voice, pattern of movement and even hyperactive (almost on-the-spectrum) levels of passion and forward-thinking the character is known for. Gene Wilder tweaked this identity to create a mad deceptive genius with a slight jovial mysticism (different, but certainly effective), and Johnny Depp’s overly whiny and irritating man-child demeanor made the role obnoxious to be around rather than enticing, so it’s arguably the first time he’s ever been accurately portrayed. Timothée Chalamet is good as Wonka, managing to portray the role with enough passion and heart to make him likeable, but it does still feel like a performance rather than an authentic character. It’d be hard to make someone written to be this electric and zany come across as real (even in a world populated by weirdos), but it isn’t enough to take away from the charm that comes off of him. The supporting cast is pretty good as well, managing to either match the wild nature of the world and add to its chaotic sugariness, or act as a grounding presence without ever going too stiff. Calah Lane is pretty good as Noodle, being given an arc that feels fittingly ripped straight out of a Roald Dahl book and sharing a pretty nice friendship with Willy, with her streetwise pessimism paired against his blind hopeful optimism providing some really great chemistry. Jim Carter, Natasha Rothwell, Rich Fulcher, and Rakhee Thakrar as fellow hostages at the boarding house are pretty likeable, Keegan-Michael Key as the chief of police has a few funny visual gags, people like Rowan Atkinson as a chocolate-addict priest and Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa are barely utilized yet still leave an impression due to their iconic personas, and the antagonists feel perfectly suited to this world and play overly wicked to a deliciously extreme degree. Olivia Colman and Tom Davis are having a ball playing these cartoonishly mean and dirty scam artists, and while Matthew Baynton and Matt Lucas go a little too far into overly goofy territories, Paterson Joseph brings just enough dignified composure to make his role delightfully villainous.

If a film wanted to capture the spirit of Roald Dahl and the personality of Willy Wonka, it needs a pleasant and colorful production value to really emulate the outlandish spectacle and vibrant wonder of what his creations and his attitude can bring to the world, and that element is handled pretty well here. While not overly extravagant or doing anything that dramatically different from other stories with similar leads and worlds, the production design by Nathan Crowley does a good job at feeling like a liveable environment yet is also good at injecting that candy-coated flair that this kind of story (as well as any musical) would need to feel lively. It creates an atmosphere that is certainly over-the-top and could feel too much in the wrong circumstances yet is matched with such warmth and genuine care that you buy it. The world can be worn, weary and crisply cold at times, but it can also be light, colorful, very theatrical and even contain a hint of magic. The costume design by Lindy Hemming kind of does this as well but to a lesser extent, as outside of Wonka’s purple garb and other vibrant attires during the song numbers, most of the outfits look relatively normal and only serve to give an idea of the location and time period the world is set in. As a musical that mixes some familiar tunes of past projects with new songs created specific for this picture, this element of the movie is also weirdly mixed. On the plus side, the numbers are done pretty well; they have good energy to them, the music is catchy and upbeat, the singing is pretty good even though no one sounds phenomenal, the camerawork by Chung-hoon Chung is nicely cinematic and shows the environment off pretty well, and they do match the world and energy of Roald Dahl as well as an upbeat retro musical. With that said, none of the songs written and composed by Joby Talbot and Neil Hannon are really that memorable outside of their first viewing; they all kind of feel and sound the same, and outside of some neat visuals and colors, they don’t provide much outside of vaguely moving the story forward. Even some of the shots outside of the song numbers can be a little odd at times due to a strange angle or awkward framing but considering the impressive work this cinematographer has done in the past, it feels more like being out of his element rather than a fault with his craft.

Wonka could’ve been a massive failure due to how few people were interested in the premise, yet its resurgence and decently popular reception after the fact shows it has legs to stand on. While it probably won’t be able to reach the level of the original 1971 film or even other Paul King movies (it’s hard to imagine succeeding those Paddington films), it can stand proud for inventing its own likeably niche popularity. The film sports a lot of likeable actors, a well-handled tone through solid direction, and enough spectacle in and outside of some musical numbers to result in a delightful time that manages to be sweet in the right way. It’s not a spotless movie as it has problems with some of its song numbers, the writing and plot can be pretty bare, and the quirky tone and goofy presentation isn’t going to be for everyone, but for those who know what they’re getting into, this will entertain pretty nicely. Maybe not reaching the highest levels of pure imagination but has just enough to be the beginning of a sweet paradise.