“Wonka” is a well-written, old-fashioned musical prequel to the legendary Roald Dahl tale, starring Timothée Chalamet as the iconic title character, Willy Wonka. Packed with goodness, this tale follows the young man of 25, freshly arrived in London after seven years of sailing the world in search of rare delicacies to enhance the taste of his candy creations. His mind brims with exotic ideas, like the hoverchoc, a chocolate egg containing a bug that induces levitation.He dreams of uplifting a sad, dark world with joy and happiness through his confections.
For Willy, candy-making is more than a craft; it’s a passion bordering on a religion, evident in his innocent eagerness to spread joy—a sentiment echoed in Chalamet’s portrayal. He embodies youthful sweetness with a fleeting hint of sadness, especially when reminiscing about his late mother, who instilled in him a love for chocolate-making.
The narrative revolves around Willy’s attempt to establish his first chocolate shop in the Galleries Gourmet, a massive mall dominated by the city’s top three, albeit corrupt, chocolatiers: ringleader Slugworth (Paterson Joseph); the snobbish Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton); and the mean Prodnose (Matt Lucas). Despite being broke and depleting his savings in a single day, Willy remains resolute. He believes that once people taste his chocolate, he’ll earn enough to realize his dream shop. However, when the villainous trio tastes his creation, they conspire to shut him down by leveraging the Chief of Police (Keegan-Michael Key), a chocoholic who accepts sweets as bribes.
Amidst the challenges posed by the chocolate syndicate, Willy finds shelter in a boarding house operated by Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman), a cunning woman ensnaring her tenants in lifetime contracts, essentially enslaving them in her basement.
Willy engineers an escape from captivity by hiding in a laundry cart and rallying other captives, including the orphan Noodle (Calah Lane) and accountant Abacus (Jim Carter), to form a team against the forces of evil. He confronts a crafty thief: an orange-skinned Oompa-Loompa (Hugh Grant).
As a musical, “Wonka” delivers fun and a touch of edginess, with Neil Hannon’s songs, including the iconic reprised number from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Pure Imagination,” evoking nostalgia.
This Warner Bros. Pictures release is a Heyday Films production, directed by Paul King, with a screenplay by Paul King and Simon Farnaby. The cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Tom Davis, Rich Fulcher, and Rakhee Thakrar.
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