'Wonka' - a review

I’m going to say this yet again: this article contains spoilers for Wonka so please read this at your own risk.

One of December’s biggest releases was Wonka, a musical film starring Timothee Chalamet and helmed by the director of the Paddington films Paul King. It follows a young Willy Wonka on his journey to becoming a world-renowned chocolate maker that we know and love from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

So let me get right to the point and share my honest thoughts on this film: it’s a really fun, charming movie to watch with your family if that’s what you’re after. It may have its good and bad moments, but the highlights largely overpower the weaker parts.

One of the things that I really liked about this film was the musical numbers. They were all well-composed, creative, upbeat, and catchy, and accompanied by brilliant choreography. The ensemble cast also did a brilliant job as singers. I would say that the standout song would have to be either “Oompa Loompa” or “Pure Imagination”. 

Another thing that I liked was the CGI used for the chocolates. I thought that it was really well done and very interesting to see all of the different chocolates on screen. I also quite enjoyed the cast’s performances, particularly those of Timothee Chalamet, Keegan Micheal-Key, and Hugh Grant. Despite some people’s reactions to his singing voice, I actually liked Chalamet’s singing voice. 

Now for the few cons of the movie. Despite it having mostly good CGI, I felt that the work done on the Oompa Loompa Lofty was quite odd and goofy. Another thing I took issue with was the storyline about the character Noodle - it just felt so cut-and-paste and I didn’t really care about it. The biggest thing that I struggled with was the message. It was trying to encourage the audience to follow their dreams, but they didn’t do a particularly good job executing that, and by the end of the film I didn’t feel that I had learnt anything or been deeply impacted.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie for what it was, and would rate it 8/10. It had many enjoyable aspects which I appreciated, although some of those problems really bothered me. That being said, next time you’re looking for a fun, family movie - Wonka is the best bet.