Review: ‘Wonka’ is sweet, but keeps the Dahl bite

As a child I devoured every Roald Dahl book I could get my hands on (Danny the Champion of the World is my hipster pick of the best, in case you were wondering). Because of my love of the world the British-Norwegian author created, I was worried about my ability to view Wonka through a critical but fair lens.

It wasn’t just my close relationship with Dahl’s books that made me think I shouldn’t take on this review. While I love getting into the weeds of a character, I’m a firm believer that not everyone needs a backstory fleshed out into movie form. Plus, as countless internet critics have pointed out, Gene Wilder’s version of the fantastical chocolatier is pretty much the gold standard for capturing a Dahl creation on screen.

In a lot of ways Wonka felt pointless, like yet another money grab in the age of endless Marvel debris and reboots using the same script but with gender-swapped or color-swapped characters. Plus, as we saw from Johnny Depp’s poor attempt at worming his way into the franchise, everyone would be comparing this film to the iconic 1971 flick, which is about as high a watermark as it gets. Trying to live up to that is enough to make even the most talented cast and crew biffsquiggled.

In the first couple of minutes of Wonka these fears seemed to materialize. We begin with the eponymous character on a ship that’s about to hit land, singing a song so full of exposition it might as well have been the opening to Star Wars. Timothée Chalamet is all whimsy and no bite, spreading love and joy to everyone instead of, say, letting a greedy child drown in a gushing river of chocolate. However, once landfall is made, everything becomes a lot more phizz-whizzing.

Like most things in film, this is thanks to the appearance of Olivia Colman. The Oscar winner is incredible as the dastardly Mrs. Scrubbit, a creation that feels like it sprung from the mind of Dahl himself. Wonka is taken in by the seemingly sweet inn owner, only for her to produce a Scrooge-like litany of extra charges for his one night in her guesthouse. This leads to the young, idealistic chocolatier making friends with five other unfortunate souls who fell foul of Scrubbit’s rules, because they didn’t (or, in Wonka’s illiterate case, couldn’t) read the terms and conditions (a lesson for all kids in the internet age).

Wonka attempts to sell his scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate, but is thwarted by the evil chocolate cartel, made up of Slugworth, Prodnose, and Fickelgruber (Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, and Mathew Baynton, all brilliant). Eventually, with the help of his new pals, he spreads his joy via his extraordinary creations and opens his factory. While Wonka might not have a dangerous streak in this film, the movie’s emotional heart more than makes up for it.

Chalamet’s Wonka remains much more upbeat than Wilder’s throughout the movie, lacking the menacing edge that the legendary Blazing Saddles actor brought to the role. However, that Dahlesque combination of being both mesmerizing and terrifying is here in abundance, albeit via other characters.

This isn’t to say that Chalamet is a bad Wonka. While he doesn’t seem like he could turn and snap at any moment, his character’s personality is in keeping with what you’d imagine an early Willy Wonka would have been like. The chocolatier only became reclusive after rivals infiltrated his operation, so it isn’t a stretch to think his personality’s whimsical and magical elements shone through stronger during an idealistic youth. Additionally, in this film he is surrounded by people who are genuinely on his side, which would undoubtedly bring out a happier shade in him.

One of these characters, and an absolute revelation, is Calah Lane as Noodle, Willy’s orphaned assistant who teaches him how to read. It’s always hard to judge child actors, but Lane is one of those rare kids who just seem to have it, much like Macaulay Culkin when he carried Home Alone as a ten-year-old. There isn’t a single second of her screen time that feels fake or forced.

Other great performances include Keegan-Michael Key as the greedy, corrupt head of police, another character that could have fallen right out of Dahl’s own mind, and Hugh Grant, who is exceptional as the Oompa-Loompa, utilizing humor so dry it makes the Sahara look like the Atlantic. Through his character we also get confirmation Wonka did not enslave the Oompa-Loompas as many have jokingly posited, which is a much more family-friendly outcome than the other theory.

Except for the opening song, the musical interludes are engaging and catchy, and the occasional dropping in of the opening notes of “Pure Imagination” will tug at the heartstrings of older audiences. Chalamet shows off a decent voice, although Grant’s rendition of the Oompa-Loompa song is a particular highlight, if not purely for the hilarity.

The movie’s blend of absurdism, magical realism, and emotion is something of a pattern for director Paul King. The man who directed Paddington and The Mighty Boosh previously had wild scripts and crazy characters and added a bit of fairy dust to his creations, so it shouldn’t be too surprising to see him do so well in this instance. Although at times Wonka’s tricks are stretched a little far for even a Dahl production, all in all you never feel pulled out of the movie, which is a testament to King’s ability to find balance.

Also drawing you in is the fantastic cinematography, costumes, and set dressing. Everything feels like Wonka’s world, and it’s all so enticing that I genuinely came out of the theater and spent £10 ($12.46, according to today’s exchange rate) on chocolate. The movie feels believable despite being fantastical, and the characters perfectly toe the line between empathetic and out there. A wholehearted embrace of sentimentality throughout the movie also means the two emotional resolutions we get (one for Willy, and one for Noodle) will almost certainly make the audience shed a tear.

Perhaps this gushing review is a consequence of the incredibly low expectations I went in with (again, that trailer!), but equally it could be argued that my negative mindset was another hurdle for Wonka to overcome. No, it isn’t a dark coming-of-age flick that explores how Wonka turned into the madman whom Wilder immortalized, but it’s a phenomenal family film with comedy and heart that will affect people of all ages.

Chalamet is a great actor and great in it, but despite being the eponymous character he isn’t the driving force of the movie. The film, like the chocolatier’s creations, is so much more than just his story: Wonka is a complex slice of the fantastic, sprinkled with some classic Dahl cozies, and is a worthy addition to the legendary writer’s incredible universe.