The original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory set an impossibly high bar for any sequel, prequel, or remake to live up to. Who could properly recreate the world that Roald Dahl had meticulously crafted and adapted for the silver screen? What actor could possibly take the place of the legendary Gene Wilder, who’s performance of Wonka was one of those rare times when the actor practically was the character they played? Wonka (2023) attempts to answer all these questions and more, and does a remarkable job doing it, despite the fact that it falls short of being equally as good.
Before we get onto the full review, a small disclaimer: the trailers of this movie do an excellent job of highlighting the important themes, but they don’t reveal the entirety of the story, which I appreciate and will replicate in this review. Now onto the fun part.
Wonka follows the origin story of the titular character, Willy Wonka (Timothy Chalamet) himself. After years of travel and perfecting his craft, Wonka travels to his world’s epicenter of chocolate confectionery creators, the Gallery Gourmet. It is here that he intends to sell his chocolate, but is almost immediately stopped by the “Chocolate Cartel,” a group of three chocolate moguls who control the Gallery. From there, the movie follows Wonka overcoming obstacles and facing tensions in order to eventually become the Wonka who we know and love. This part of the movie is its weakest; although most of that weakness comes from the innate plot difficulties of making a prequel. We already know what’s going to happen, so any tension or challenge or even direct threats of the main character dying are made less dramatic by the fact that we know it is a prequel, and therefore it will all work out in the end. Wonka, as do most prequels, suffers from this, especially during its third act. Tensions are at their highest, and the movie really wants you to think the characters are in danger, but we know that they’re not, and in the end everyone will be eating chocolate and achieving their dreams. Fortunately, that is one of the few issues I had with Wonka. For those who aren't aware, Wonka is a full fledged musical, unlike the movies which came before it, and it’s a musical that’s done remarkably well. The choreography is impressively done, and the songs are surprisingly good. When I was listening to them, they reminded me of older musicals, with a sound that was very distinct for the movie itself, and not just riding off of the current trends in music. As for the acting, it too is extremely good, owing to the cast mostly being made up not of notable Hollywood names, but of notable, talented television actors from the UK. Timothy Chalamet plays a remarkably good Wonka, doing his best to live up to Gene Wilder’s original performance, complete with all the little strange mannerisms and quirks that make Wonka Wonka. The main villains are delightfully entertaining, and they put on a spectacularly evil performance throughout the entire movie. However, as I always say, nothing is perfect, and Wonka does have some minor bits in it that are simply lazy writing. HOWEVER, despite my best efforts, I can’t find anything else that is particularly wrong with this movie. Contrary to what you may have heard, personally I believe Wonka is worth the watch. My overall rating is a solid 8/10.