WONKA (2023)

WONKA (2023)

Tagline: Discover how Willy became...

(Adventure, Comedy, Everlasting Gobstoppers?) [PG]

May I present, Willy Wonka's wild and wonderful wishy-washy Wonka walker! Please, don't make me say that again.

In this one, Willy Wonka has sailed the seven seas and with very little money wants to open a chocolate store. The problem is, that the town he goes to just so happens to have a chocolate cartel determined to keep Willy’s whacky chocolate genius at bay. After being hoodwinked into servitude at a local hotel, he enlists the help of a girl named Noodle and other victims of the hotel management to achieve his dreams, as well as theirs. 

First off, this movie is completely unnecessary. In fact, lots of really fun, really cool movies are unnecessary. Who cares? What we end up with here is a pretty fantastic little prequel that is probably better tied to the 1971’s WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, than it is 2005’s CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. 

Several things are really well done with this thing but the thing that stood out the most was the casting. I can’t stand DUNE, but Timothée Chalamet crushes this role as a young Willy Wonka. I also thought the choice of having Noodle played by Calah Lane (THE DAY SHALL COME) was a touch of brilliance. We also got wonderful performances from Hugh Grant who played the main Oompa-Loompa and Keegan-Michael Key who played the Chief Of Police. This was also a good outing for Paterson Joseph (AEON FLUX). Rounding out the main cast I thought Olivia Colman (PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH) also did a solid job as the devious hotel owner Mrs. Scrubitt. 

We also get some really cool design work. Just the detail that went into Willy Wonka’s suitcase was immaculate, the CGI was all really well done. The sets and score were awesome. What was a bit lackluster, was the actual story. I think I expected a lot more candy in a Willy Wonka film. This isn’t to say there wasn’t a lot of candy in this, but I definitely expected that to be more of a focus. I also didn’t expect a song where Willy basically explains to a dude how to woo a woman. The lyrics were handled tastefully; I just really wasn’t expecting that in such a wholesome film. Allegedly there was an incident that wasn’t handled tastefully though, where apparently the director Paul King sent a mockup of the Oompa-Loompa design to Hugh Grant and it was naked. What the actual hell Paul? Then we have people out here actually wondering why we think 98% of Hollywood is creepy sickos. There was zero reason for that if it happened. 

That set-aside and dealing with what we got on screen, the movie is actually very wholesome and family-oriented which is super rare in 2023. I really enjoyed some of the songs in this and there were some cool nods to the original film. I don’t think this was as visually mind-blowing as I was expecting, but it is very fun and entertaining and I really can’t find a reason not to recommend it. 

WONKA gets a solid 5 out of 7. Chalamet and Lane stole the show and Village Roadshow gave us an engaging emotional effort worthy of the WONKA name.
 

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