I’m sorry, I cannot be normal about reviewing the Wonka movie
Let me level with you: 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is one of my very favorite films. You know how movie people like to wax poetic about how movies are magic? Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory made me believe it. Back in 1971, Roger Ebert’s four-star review of the film compared it to The Wizard of Oz, and that’s pretty apt — both films are landmark cinematic experiences, the kind that can change your life if you come to them at the right time.
Wonka, the new prequel movie from director Paul King and his Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby, starring Timotheé Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka, does nothing of the sort. That doesn’t make it bad — it’s merely pleasant, a nice diversion that mostly suffers from the strong association with a much better film.
As a prequel to the ’71 movie — and specifically not an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book, for rights reasons — Wonka uses a healthy serving of musical numbers to tell the tale of how and why its quirky chocolatier became a renowned confectioner. In Wonka’s world — a whimsical, unnamed European town — the chocolate biz is dominated by three stodgy companies who collaborate as a secret cartel, fixing prices, paying off cops, and selling inferior product to a public with no other local candy options.
This is a delightfully convoluted plot for a children’s fantasy movie that is very plainly about holding on to your dreams, an idea explored with very little sophistication or idiosyncrasy. There’s a sweetness to Wonka that’s instantly recognizable to anyone who’s seen Paul King’s Paddington movies, which makes it both a pleasure to watch and ultimately frivolous.
The 1971 film is more than mere confection: There’s a real air of mystery to it, a sense of peril
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