Wonka: Sweet, but occasionally sour.

by Rob Ryan

⭐⭐1/2

In another attempt to bank on a successful IP, we now have a production company dedicated to all things Roald Dhal with two films already released, first was Matilda: The Musical released last year, adapted from the West End Musical of the same name, now we have Wonka, a new original musical that despite it's short comings is nevertheless passable family entertainment but people who enjoyed Matilda: The Musical or any of Paul King's previous outings I.E the two Paddington movies may feel disappointed by the average to forgettable songs, outdated fat jokes and Hugh Grant as an Ompa Loompa.

Willy (Timothee Chalamet) arrives at a nameless city to open his own chocolate store in memory of his late mother (Sally Hawkins) who got sick and died before she could see his dream be fulfilled. But Willy is short on luck, after his first attempt to make his mark on the world, the owners of the biggest chocolate makers in all the land, "Slugworth" (Paterson Joseph) "Ficklegruber" (Matthew Baynton) and "Prodnose" (Matt Lucas) tell him to get lost for taking away their customers. Even worse, the owners of the hotel he stays in (Olivia Coleman and Tom Davis) have scammed Willy into a legally binding contract where he has to pay more then he can afford for a room, so they send him to work in the laundry room to pay of his debt along with all the other guests who they've also scammed into manual labour, which leads to one of the few catchy songs in the film.

But Willy isn't about to give up, with the help of a young orphan (Calah Lane) along with all the other guests, they will work together to fulfil his dream, while also evading the hotel owners and the chief of police (Keegan Michael Key) who the 3 chocolate makers have bribed with a lifetime supply of chocolate in exchange for stamping out the competition. (you can probably tell that's when the fat jokes come in)

Director Paul King has definitely maintained some of that infectious energy that made the Paddington movies so popular, just with an extra budget in production and costume design. It keeps the movie from being anywhere close to boring and mundane and putting the kids to sleep, but the thing that stood out to me about this movie was the world building and way chocolate in this world is what oil and drugs is to the real world. The bad guys keep thousands of gallons of chocolate buried under the city cathedral guarded by a "chocaholic" brethren led by a "chocaholic" Priest (Rowan Atkinson) They guard the money in form of chocolate for an endless supply while the 3 owners get to maintain their power, wealth and influence to bribe the police and squash all who stand against them. It's an element that is creative in a childish and almost Roald Dhal way while also maintaining parallels of the real world we live in.

While Chalamet wouldn't have been my first choice, he none the less manages to make the role his own and it's nice to see him attempt more energetic and charismatic roles, everyone else is reasonably cast and seems to be enjoying themselves (except for Hugh Grant) but the standout is Paterson Joseph as the main villain who despite a twist revealed about him in the third act that gives off more questions then answers in the final act is having the time of his life, with his sinister smile, menacing screen presence, an eloquent poshness in his accent and a rhythm and timing in his line delivery especially encapsulated in the musical numbers, he does too good of a job playing such an obvious slime.

It's too bad that all of the good will the movie sets up is completely ruined when you remember that Hugh Grant as an Ommpa Loompa is in this and when he finally shows up, it's just as cringeworthy as you imagine, not helped by his nonchalant cover of "Ommpa Loompa" and the short cuts the writers go to avoid addressing the exploitation angle of the story with Willy taking the Ommpa Loompa's from their homeland to work as essentially slaves for his factory. Even worse is the obvious cgi with his face poorly placed on a little cg body in post and how none the movements for the character feel natural. Not to dwell on this too much but why does it have to be a normal-sized actor playing a little man when little people actors exist?

Another shortcoming is the lacking comedic elements as there is nothing that stands out with the exception of the movie's only memorable gag, that being Keegan Michael Key in a fat suit. A gag so tired and laboured that no body in my audience was laughing at any of it. Granted they had Emma Thompson in a fat suit to embody the role of Mrs Trunchball in Matilda last year but those who critiqued that movie for it may feel like giving it an apology after viewing this.

A pet peeve of mine in musicals is song lyrics constantly trying to add rhyme to a song for where there is none, here when they can't think of a rhyme to conclude a sentence, they make up a word by taking a pre-existing one and then splice in the last six letters of chocolate just so it rhymes with it. I know this isn't the only example but it makes the songs more childish and slapdash, as opposed to being written with a certain wit and intelligence like the songs in the original Willy Wonka film are. That contrast is only more apparent when the film ends with a cover of pure imagination to which to the films credit is a pretty decent one.

In the end Wonka, was average and while it was better than I thought it would be as i didn't go into it with confidence, there's not a whole lot about it that's going to stick in my mind, which is a shame considering the crowd pleasers the Paddington movies are and Matilda: The Musical being a whole lot of fun with good messages for kids. As far as kids movies goes you could do far worse, but there are better Dhal adaptations out there. My favourite being Fantastic Mr Fox by Wes Anderson.

Wonka is out in UK cinemas now.