Film Review: Wonka

Director: Paul King
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Colman, Paterson Joseph
Running time: 116 minutes

Cinema seems to be slowly entering its ‘origin story era’. Not too long ago, we were given Joker and Cruella, and just this year we have had the likes of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and now Wonka.

I’ll admit, when I first saw the trailer, I was sceptical; was Willy Wonka’s an origin story that we really needed? Well, I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. Wonka follows the story of how our famed chocolatier makes his name, his struggle to make this dream a reality due to the meddling of the Chocolate Mafia (yes, you read that right), and the friendships he makes with those who help him along the way.

Right, let’s get one thing straight from the off: Wonka is a musical. Not marketed as one, I can see how this might rub some people up the wrong way. As a bit of a musical buff, I was in my element… my brother, on the other hand, physically recoiled in his seat when the first words of the film were sung rather than spoken, so I can see both sides of the argument.

Although I was also expecting your run-of-the-mill film made up of dialogue more than verse, Wonka has some, dare I say, catchy numbers. Scrub, Scrub, Oompa Loompa and You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This were some of my favourites, while a gracious nod to the 1971 adaptation is made in the rendition of Pure Imagination.

I’m not going to lie and say there’s only a handful of songs (having looked up the soundtrack, there are around ten), but I would argue they’re quite good. And for my brother to come out of a musical and say it was (direct quote) “better than I expected”, let me tell you, that is high praise… and one of the reasons I write the more detailed reviews in the family.

So, onto the actual film! Maybe it’s a lack of pure imagination (see what I did there?) on my part, but I would find it a real feat to take an insanely imaginative piece of work like Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and comprise a totally new, equally imaginative and creative prequel to live up to expectations. And I think that’s almost what works so well about the film; because people themselves would struggle to come up with these kinds of ideas, filmmakers had an almost blank canvas, and could let their imaginations run wild.

From the kinds of chocolates created (like hoverchocs that make you fly) to the whole vision of Wonka’s chocolate shop itself, it’s impossible not to be dragged into the grandeur of the whole thing. Seeing something so unimaginable and so unmistakeably Wonka come to life on the screen was a real joy (even to those in the audience cringing every time a new song started).

Boasting a star-studded cast, it’s no wonder everyone wanted to be on board for this project. With the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Coleman, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Jim Carter, Hugh Grant, and even Rowan Atkinson on board, you’re bound to know at least one familiar face, and the film brings everyone together fantastically. If I had one qualm, it’s that I was expecting a lot more Grant as the Oompa Loompa, so I felt a bit cheated but not enough to be mad about it.

Wonka truly is a must-watch for 2024 if you haven’t managed it so far this month. It’s funny, it’s imaginative, even a little bit emotional, and it pulls you in from the off to a world beyond your wildest dreams, watching a character we’ve fallen in love with in both books and films chase his fantasies and wind up on top. Definitely worth it, whether you’re a musical lover or a musical hater.

Wonka is now available in cinemas