As I’m sure many of you have heard by now, Wonka, a prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, arrived in theaters on December 15th. With Wonka being played by Timothée Chalamet and me being the obsessed fan that I am, I had to check out this movie and provide my (mostly) unbiased review. So quiet up and listen down. Nope, scratch that, reverse it (I’m so sorry you had to read that).
Upon originally hearing about the casting for this movie, I assumed it was a joke. Timothée’s resume includes films such as Lady Bird, Beautiful Boy, Call Me by Your Name, Little Women, and many more emotionally moving films. He does have a history of appearing on SNL (and if you’re a true fan, you’ll know about his rapper days as Lil Timmy Tim), but I was not at all expecting to see Timothée playing a young Willy Wonka in this children’s movie. However, it did not disappoint.
Wonka is a musical movie based on Roald Dahl’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is the third film made about this classic story, with the first being a 1971 movie that most of us have seen or at least heard of. The first time I watched it as a kid, I was horrified by the Oompa Loompas, orange figures with green hair that danced around and sang a creepy song—any child’s nightmare. In 2005, Johnny Depp played Willy Wonka in an even eerier remake. Through one way or another, most kids these days are familiar with the classic tale of the chocolatier who opens up his factory to five lucky kids for a tour in hopes of finding a new owner for the place. Wonka, however, covers the side of the story that wasn’t presented in previous films: the origins of the famous chocolatier.
The story starts with young Willy Wonka’s arrival in a new town, with “twelve silver sovereigns in [his] pocket and a hatful of dreams.” His goal is to open up a chocolate shop to sell his exotic, delicious chocolate; however, many forces get in the way. Wonka teams up with other struggling individuals in order to take down his opposition and achieve his dreams.Visit Site
Besides Timothée, Wonka introduces a new young actress, Calah Lane, who plays Noodle, Willy’s newly acquired friend and sidekick. Timothée Chalamet’s main costars include Jim Carter, Rakhee Thakrar, Natasha Rothwell, and Rich Fulcher. The cast is filled with additional notable names, such as Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Coleman, Rowan Atkinson, and even Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa (suddenly, my childhood fears have vanished). For a children’s movie, each character is given a good amount of dimension, with their own mini-plotlines that add to the overall story, which all tie off in the end. Each actor or actress does a really nice job at portraying these different sides of their characters while keeping the story light. I was especially impressed by Timothée’s ability to evoke emotion, even in a kids movie about a magic chocolatier man.
Given that Timothée has a bit of a musical history (look up “Tiny Horse” on YouTube if you want to see some), I wasn’t surprised to hear him singing beautifully throughout this movie, along with the rest of the cast. The musical numbers added magic to the scenes. I walked out of the theater with quite a few tunes stuck in my head.
Overall, I’ll admit, Wonka was pretty corny, but if you’re looking to laugh at Timothée Chalamet perfectly executing cringy lines, you are in luck! This movie is a colorful, musical prequel to a classic storyline, and while it did lack the typical strange vibe present in Roald Dahl movie adaptations (like previous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory adaptations, Matilda, or The BFG,) it was still an enjoyable movie.
I’m guessing that after reading this, you are left with many questions. Why did Timothée Chalamet take on this role? Why is there a girl named Noodle? And most importantly, where does the Hugh Grant Oompa Loompa come into play? Go watch Wonka now to find out.
