Wonka (2023)

We all know the story of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory through Roald Dahl’s iconic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the two incredibly famous films that were based on it, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). On December 15, 2023, a new film, Wonka, directed by Paul King, was added to the line of live-action film adaptations. Wonka follows Willy Wonka’s backstory and the struggles he faced to start his chocolate factory. The film is 116 minutes long and had a budget of $125 million. On opening weekend, Wonka pulled in more than $151 million worldwide and has since reached over $500 million worldwide, which marks a huge box office milestone. 

There are many opinions surrounding the casting of Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka, but after seeing the movie I feel that it was a great choice, as were the choices for the rest of the cast. Wonka stars Calah Lane as Noodle, Hugh Grant as the Oompa-Loompa, Keegan-Micheal Key as the Chief of Police, and Olivia Coleman as Mrs. Scrubbit. Every actor in this film did an incredible job portraying their character and making the movie fun and hilarious. It’s extremely difficult to create something new from a story that has been adapted so many times, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second.

Wonka is a movie-musical, and the soundtrack did not disappoint. All of the music was so fun and whimsical, and everybody in the theater, regardless of age, was smiling throughout all of the catchy songs and dance sequences. The soundtrack was created by Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot and is performed by the cast. The entire movie was wildly entertaining and wonderfully charming; I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole time.

On top of the soundtrack, the visuals in this film are beautiful and extremely colorful. All of the sets and CGI tied the film together, and it added so much magic to the film entirely. Wonka truly created a whole new world that immersed audiences, including me, completely. I thought it was great for the film, and it really did portray the whimsy of the world that Wonka is set in.

As a whole, Wonka is a lovely film for all ages that shows the importance of family, dreams, and helping others. I recommend this film for everybody as it’s a feel-good film that’s extremely funny and joyous. I haven’t been that happy watching a movie in a very long time, and I feel that everybody should be able to watch and feel that same happiness. We all need a little bit of joy in our lives, and Wonka truly portrays that.