REVIEW: ‘Wonka’ Lacks “Pure Imagination”

In 1964, Roald Dahl released a story about a man and his chocolate factory. The chocolatier’s name was Willy Wonka and the story was called, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The children’s story would go on to become a staple in many households all over the world. In 1971, the first film adaptation of the book, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, would be released starring Gene Wilder as Wonka. In 2005, Johnny Depp would step in to play Wonka in the second film adaptation of the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both Wilder and Depp received praise for their takes on the eccentric chocolate man, and now Timothée Chalamet is stepping into the role, but he’s not retelling the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No, he is telling the story of how Willy Wonka became the owner of the world-famous chocolate factory in Warner Bros. prequel, Wonka.

Wonka follows aspiring magician, and chocolate inventory, Willy as he attempts to open his own chocolate store in the fabled Galeries Gourmet, located in an unknown fictional town. After making a deal with the shady Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman) for a place to stay, Willy and his new friend, Noodle (Calah Lane) team up to see Willy’s dream come to life. However, the chocolate cartel, Galeries Gourmet business owners Mr. Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Mr. Prodnose (Matt Lucas), and Mr. Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton), have other ideas. They like things the way they are, so they set out to sabotage Willy to ensure he is never able to open his own shop.

Directed by Paul King, this movie is a musical. Yes, a musical, even though it is not being promoted as one. Featuring seven original songs, that’s all they are, features. As in, not a single song made sense in this film. Each song felt forced into the story. As a viewer, you spend more time wondering why the characters are breaking out in song and why the musical numbers lacked emotion. It is as if the creative team decided last minute to make the film a musical and had to scramble to make them fit into the story. There are two additional songs that fans will find familiar, “Pure Imagination” and “Oompa Loompa”. Of the two songs, Hugh Grant’s take on “Oompa Loompa” will be the only memorable one from the group.

Chalamet gives a decent performance as Willy Wonka, but was ultimately miscast. Unlike Wilder and Depp, Chalamet was unable to portray the most important part to the character, his eccentric side. In every iteration of the character, Wonka teeters on the line of pure brilliancy and pure insanity. But Chalamet’s version never finds that line, that slight craze in his eyes needed to pull of this character. Joseph, Lucas, and Baynton were way too over the top in their performances as the film’s three villains, while Colman’s Scrubbit felt too much like another Roald Dahl character, Mrs. Trunchbull from Matilda, rather than her own character. Keegan-Michael Key was the only performance I actually enjoyed. As the Chief-of-Police, he didn’t miss a beat.

Audience goers are either going to really love this movie, or like me, really hate it. Unlike the two adaptations before it, this movie may have been made for families, but it’s not for families. Family films have to speak with audiences of all ages while this movie only spoke to young children. At times, it felt like I was watching a Disney Channel Original Movie rather than a big budget theatrical production. I also felt as if this prequel didn’t line up with the end goal. I had way too many questions about how the Willy Wonka we meet in Wonka becomes the Willy Wonka we meet in Roald Dahl’s story. There were too many pieces missing for me to classify this film as a good beginning story for everyone’s favorite chocolate man.

Grade: D