Film Review: Wonka

You know, it’s weird that there’s been this trend of movies recently about the rise of companies or specific products from the past. A bunch of films like Air, BlackBerry, Flamin’ Hot, Tetris, among plenty others, have been a major part of 2023’s cinematic output, and it’s a strange one to say the least. Especially at a time when people are looking even less fondly on the excess of major corporations who hoard their wealth while everyone else struggles to meet their day-to-day needs. Which makes a somewhat similar approach for a children’s film feel all the more cynical, that film in question being Wonka.

Wonka acts as an origin for Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet), who we meet as a young, aspiring chocolatier who arrives by boat to a bustling city to make his success only to find himself trapped in a scam that leaves him stuck as a worker in a boarding house while at the same time dealing with the city’s three well-established chocolatiers, who use their connections to make sure he doesn’t rise as a potential competitor, utilizing any means necessary to keep him in line. But he befriends others who are trapped in the boarding house and they work together to overcome their obstacles.

As cynical as this might sound, not only from being another addition to this trend I mentioned at the start, but also being a prequel story, which has largely proven to be a difficult form of cinematic storytelling where filmmakers use the audience’s established investment in the material as a crutch, relying heavily on callbacks, foreshadowing, and references to all the stuff they know audiences will love. But what makes this different is the creative team behind it. It’s co-written and directed by Paul King of the two Paddington films, collaborating on the script with Simon Farnaby, who worked with on Paddington 2.

The fact that these people are involved in the film shows pretty much immediately as the tone and general vibe of the story is a lot more sincere and much more earnest than most of the snarky and self-aware children’s entertainment you’ll see these days in mainstream movies and TV. It presents a very whimsical and fantastical world, very much stylized in classic Roald Dahl fashion, without ever calling attention itself or to any of the things happening as being ridiculous or weird, and things most definitely get ridiculous and weird.

However, I wouldn’t call it a great film. One working against the film was mainly the lack of momentum. Despite being under two hours, the pacing is weirdly off, starting interesting enough to get you engaged, but really lulls in the middle, and by the time you get back into the groove of things, it’s almost over. The other is that unfortunately Timothée Chalamet – as talented as he is – is woefully miscast. The energy he brings as a performer just isn’t on the same whimsical wavelength of the film, and the effort he puts in trying to achieve that is far too visible to effectively engage with. He’s never been a “big” performer, he always excelled in understated roles, and I’m not saying he’s incapable, just that those acting muscles have not been stretched enough to handle this material.

The film is also a musical, made in collaboration by Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot. I honestly didn’t find many of the songs especially catchy, I don’t think I’ll be listening to any of these songs on my commute to work, but I did like the very classical feeling they evoked and the filmmaking style that went with it. It’s a true movie musical with a lot of effort placed in choreography, editing, dynamic character interactions within the number. It’s genuinely charming, if not particularly memorable. Chalamet and his co-stars do a decent enough job performance wise, putting more effort in the acting side than making sure every note hits pitch perfectly.

I don’t really have a lot to say about Wonka, I don’t think it’s especially good, but it has enough affecting moments that I can’t really dismiss it either. It’s solid, serviceable, and with a cast featuring the likes of Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Tom Davis, Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant, there’s a lot of strong talent putting in the work. Not to mention Chung-hoon Chung doing the cinematography, talk about over-qualified. Though, I will say Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa is about as funny and as off-putting as you’d expect. I think Paul King is starting to become in the same league as filmmakers like Phil Lord and Chris Miller, as I’m they make movies that are way better than you’d expect given the material. His Paddington films certainly had that effect, and I’d say this is better than I would have figured for a Charlie And The Chocolate Factory prequel. There’s not much to be annoyed or irritated about, it’s just fine, it’s harmless, it gets the job done, and I suppose there’s nothing wrong with being just that.

Wonka is now out in theaters.