Cut to the chase: Holy everlasting gobstoppers! “Wonka” is a scrumdiddlyumptious return to the vibrant world of Roald Dahl with a fresh new take on the titular character and a joyous journey that will please viewers of all ages.
Dahl-ightful adaptation
For childhood bookworms, there is no more bewitching a memory than reading a Roald Dahl fairytale for the first time. For many, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” was the gateway book to Dahl’s magnificent mind and spellbinding stories. The novel has entertained young readers since its publication in 1964. Its film adaptations – one in 1971 starring Gene Wilder and its frustratingly sterile reboot in 2006 starring Johnny Depp – have fully brought the property into the pop culture lexicon. For true fans, a return to any world created by Dahl is a welcome escape, but back to a world where Willy Wonka reigns? We’d roll the dice with his notoriously dangerous candy-making concoctions any day.
“Wonka” offers such an opportunity, reuniting viewers young and old with Dahl’s enchanting world. The film, a prequel to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” is written and directed by Paul King, whose “Paddington” film and its sequel have found cult favorite status among legions of fans. Before he had a factory and an army of Oompa Loompas, Wonka was just a boy with a dream…
Come with Me, and You’ll See
King transports viewers, young and old, to an unnamed European city that most resembles a hybrid of London, Paris and Prague, where young Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) arrives in his top hat, his suitcase of confectionary creations and a handful of coins. A bright-eyed idealist, he’s ready to impress the world with his imagination. The musical number that opens the film sets the stage, both literally and figuratively, for the beguiling journey that is about to unfold. It’s a truly magnificent sequence that hearkens back to traditional musicals of bygone eras.
It’s not all song and dance (though it is much of that too). Having given away his last sovereign and needing a place to stay the night, Wonka foolishly accepts the faux kindness of Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman), a greedy laundry owner. Despite a warning by Noodles (Calah Lane), the young orphaned ward who is working off her debt to the devious small business owner, Wonka signs the contract and enlists himself to many years’ worth of servitude at the launderette to pay off the bamboozle of an agreement.
Wonka – this version of the candymaker, at least, yet to be disappointed and jaded like later iterations portray – is an optimistic opportunist. He forges a love connection between Scrubbit and her dimwitted henchman, Bleacher (Tom Davies), to provide a distraction. Free to plot his big reveal, Wonka is met with resistant animosity in the Chocolate Cartel, a group of chocolatiers who want to keep their club exclusive: Prodnose (Matt Lucas), Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton) and Wonka’s primary rival as detailed in Dahl’s books, Slugworth (Paterson Joseph).
The threesome has a monopoly in town, setting up shop on opposite corners of the Diagon Alley-type market known as Galeries Gourmet. When Wonka reveals his penchant for delectable delights, the cartel bribes the Chief of Police (Keegan-Michael Key) into intimidating and keeping Wonka out of their lucrative business. With the additional aid of his fellow serfs under the horrible Mrs. Scrubbit – Abacus (Jim Carter), Piper (Natasha Rothwell) and Larry (Rich Fulcher) – as well as a giraffe named Abigail and a mischievous Oompa Loompa (Hugh Grant), Wonka fights the candy-archy.
Chalamet or Chala-meh?
Despite some headlines implying that Chalamet is miscast as Wonka, he is perfect for younger viewers. Wilder and Depp gave the candymaker a cold, hard, unhinged edge; Chalamet makes Wonka a light and happy, engaging, positive figure to lead immature audiences through this magical world. At times, he gives energy more akin to Mary Poppins than Willy Wonka, particularly given his endless suitcase of contraptions, his whimsical sayings, and hair-brained plans, like sneaking into the zoo to milk a giraffe. Chalamet’s Wonka, though different, is worthy of the top hat.
The film certainly cannot rival Wonka’s later adventure; the chocolate-making process, a central part of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and entranced viewers of all ages, is only partially explored. There is also only one child at the center of this film. Unlike “Charlie,” young viewers must attach to Noodle or resign to adult characters, as silly as most are. The singular Oompa Loompa is undoubtedly given more charisma than the hordes of workers shown in the previous films who are allotted only blanket personalities. There is enough charm, adventure and magic to make the story a dreamer’s delight.
Know before you go
MPAA rating: PG for some violence, mild language and thematic elements
Recommended age: 7+
Runtime: 116 minutes
Nightmare inducers: Unless you and/or your little viewer consider near-drowning by liquid chocolate a fear-inducing ordeal, “Wonka” is free from traditional “nightmare inducers.” Colman is somewhat despicable as a Dickensian laundry owner who keeps indentured servants; she’s horrible, though she’s not nearly as ferocious as Miss Trunchbull, another middle-aged villainess à la Roald Dahl. There is a watchdog who grumbles and barks a bit but never fully commits to the terrorizing dog trope. The cartel of chocolatiers sings and dances its malignant threats without ever following through, making it perhaps the most light-hearted malefactor of the year.
Difficult concepts or emotions: Noodle, an orphan who is forced to commit child labor under her despicable guardians, evokes some waterworks when she reunites with her mother. But what is prominent through the film’s heart is Willy Wonka’s sweet, emotional connection to his mother, who passed many years prior. Played by Sally Hawkins, Wonka’s mother does not materialize back from the dead, despite his long-held belief that she would appear if he opened his confectionery shop. Her sweet note reminding Wonka that sweets are only as good as the company you share them with is a tear-jerker.
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