December 9, 2023
A young man named Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) rode a boat into the city and went directly to the elegant Galeries Gourmet where he dreamed of building his own chocolate store. He lost all his money on that very first night, so he went stranger named Bleacher (Tom Davis) who brought him to the inn of his partner Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman). Willy signed Scrubbit's contract with small print that he did not read, and spent the night there.
The next day, Wonka went back to the Galeries to hock a special chocolate that could make the eater float in the air. Three neighboring chocolatiers named Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Prodnose (Matt Lucas), and Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton) called the Chief of Police (Keegan-Michael Key) to stop Willy. Since he had no money to pay his bill, Scrubbit threw Willy into her basement laundry where he met other people working to pay off their debts.
Roald Dahl's 1964 book "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" had already been made into two films. The first one was "Willy Wonka and & the Chocolate Factory" (1971) starring Gene Wilder as the eccentric chocolatier. This was remade in 2005 in the original title "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. This new incarnation of Willy Wonka is a prequel, how he started his career in the chocolate business.
Timothee Chalamet's big cinematic breakthrough was in "Call Me By Your Name" (2017), and since then he has been in other Oscar Best Picture nominees, from "Lady Bird" (2017) to "Dune" (2021). Right from the very first scene, Chalamet surprised us with his talent in singing and dancing in elaborate musical numbers throughout the film (the trailer did not give a hint that this was a musical!). He was convincing in portraying Wonka's delightful genius and idealism.
Wonka's main sidekick here was Scubbit's servant girl Noodle (Calah Lane). His friends in the laundry included an accountant Abacus Crunch (Jim Carter from "Downton Abbey"). We also get flashbacks about his mother (Sally Hawkins), who taught him the craft of chocolates. No Wonka story would be complete without an Oompa Loompa (Hugh Grant), an orange-skinned little man with green hair, here introduced with the iconic theme song from the first film.
Like the first two films, there were moments when the story could turn dark and scary for younger kids. The way that gloriously colorful "A World of Your Own" number where Wonka's candy shop had its grand opening, concluded was a prime example. However, the villains here only played it cartoonishly evil (with a weakness for chocolate), including a surprise guest appearance of always funny Rowan Atkinson as a crooked priest. 8/10.
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