Wonka Movie Review: Like every Christmas, it's time for stories for the little ones. This year comes the long-awaited Wonka by Paul King, the prequel to a fairy tale put to paper in 1964 by Roald Dahl, which became a very famous novel, and then gave life to two films: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by Mel Stewart, which came out in 1971, starring Gene Wilder as the chocolate manufacturer, and Tim Burton's The Chocolate Factory, released in 2005, with Johnny Depp playing the protagonist. Today, in the role of the chocolatier most loved by children, there is Timothée Chalamet, in a distinctly musical version, in which good feelings triumph, centered on the first adventures of young Willy.
The beginnings of Willy Wonka
Willy, Timothée Chalamet, is a boy who lost his mother, Sally Hawkins, who became ill when he was a child. From her, he learned the love of chocolate and the techniques for working it. He arrives in a new city with the idea of opening his own chocolate shop, but it's not that simple. He only has some change with him and becomes the victim of a scam that leads him to work for the evil and greedy Mrs. Scrubbit, Olivia Colman, to repay a debt.
Together with him other unfortunates, including little Noodle, Calah Lane, imprisoned like him and forced to work tirelessly. So how can we get out of there and make his chocolate creations known in the city? How to get ahead if the competition is ruthless and even without rules? Prodnose, Matt Lucas, Fickelgruber, Matthew Baynton, Slugworth, Paterson Joseph, true chocolate stars, in fact, will block his way and it will take all his determination, as well as the help of his new friends, to try to keep his promise made one day to his mother and make his dream come true.
Wonka, a prequel for children
Paul King chooses the path of the prequel. He focuses on Willy Wonka's youth and is aimed purely at the children's audience, not worrying about involving the adults who accompany them to the cinema. A different operation, therefore, from the two previous films, certainly dictated by the desire not to repeat itself, given that the previous ones had both been effective and successful. A choice, however, carried out with little conviction and little inventiveness.
A rhetorical, edifying, and Manichean version
This is how the film renounces all that less edifying part which was typical both of the character of Wonka, cynical and misanthropic, especially in Burton's version and of the boys who visited the factory, portrayed with a very unindulgent look in both versions and made human and realistic precisely through their vices and defects, as well as their parents. It was in these aspects, so concrete and vivid, that spectators of all ages could easily recognize themselves, becoming passionate about the story.
There was, in the spirit of Dahl's novel and then in the two film versions mentioned at the beginning, the desire to communicate something that went beyond the beautiful fairy tale. Indeed, it can be said that the success of this story, as we have known it so far, was determined precisely by its non-conventional or Manichean nature. In the hands of Paul King, all this vanishes, in favor of a rather hackneyed rhetoric about the poor boy who has lost his mother and dreams of meeting her again, about the need to pursue one's dreams until one succeeds in realizing them, and about the eternal struggle between good and bad.
Chalamet and Lane are not enough
Wanting to change perspective and partly target, it was necessary to find a more interesting and engaging key. The director, however, focuses everything on Chalamet, although his face is expressive, on the magical aspect of his chocolates, with their bright colors and surreal ingredients, and on his co-protagonist, Chala Lane: an orphaned and unfortunate child, a sort of little Cinderella who, the public can be sure, will find its redemption. The character of Willy doesn't shine in terms of writing. The screenplay, by Paul King himself with Simon Farnaby, is the Achilles heel of the film. There are no surprising twists, the plot is very predictable and not very compelling.
Wonka is a musical that is not fully appreciated
Wonka is also a musical in all respects, therefore there are songs, written by Neil Hannon, and performed by the protagonist and the rest of the cast, which however, it must be said, are not fully appreciated in the dubbed version - this is how Wonka was proposed to the press. The soundtrack is by Joby Talbot.
Both elements, however, accompany the narrative flatly and tiredly, except for the Oompa Loompa song, which objectively remains in mind after viewing. The sets are well done: the reconstruction of the city, as well as the photography, together with the visual effects. See the contrast between its dull colors and the bright and gaudy ones that distinguish sweets or Wonka's shop.
The cast of Wonka
A mention must be made, in this ensemble cast, for Hugh Grant in the role of the Oompa Loompa who is really nice, also because he does not lose the irony that distinguishes him and rises a little above the average of predictability. Rowan Atkinson as Father Julius, with his funny faces, and Olivia Colman, as the very evil Mrs. Scrubbit, also enrich the cast. Wonka is a very light entertainment work for the little ones. It's Christmassy, yes, but we expected more. To stay with the chocolate metaphor, Paul King's film is a chocolate with a nice, colorful wrapper, but which disappoints when tasted due to its poor flavor.