“If we’re kind and polite, the world will be right.”
– Paddington in Paddington (2014).
There’s this strange belief that in order for something to be great or successful, it must be exclusive. That, for whatever reason, the scarcity of the thing is what creates value rather than the thing itself. Value creation is as arbitrary and subjective as anything else and it leads to a create battle between artist and capitalism or, in a fascinating twist, art versus content. In a strange way, the new Warner Bros. Pictures film, Wonka, directed by Paul King (Paddington 1 & 2) and scripted by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2), is exactly this, a fantastical dramedy in which art is shunned in favor of preventing the disruption of commerce despite the ingenuity, inspiration, and absolute high-quality that is acknowledged about the art and its artist. For those who’ve grown up on Mel Stuart’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) or have read the original Roald Dahl story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there may be some trepidation at the prior statement or even at the notion that we, the audience, “need” a prequel tale for the enigmatic Wonka, but what King and Farnaby provide not only sets the stage for who the man becomes, but illustrates a side of the artist *before* he was a household name that may just inspire the next generation of professional imaginaries.
Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka in Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ WONKA, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Jaap Buittendijk. © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
On a random wintry day, one Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) arrives in one the scene with dreams of starting his chocolate business in the place where all great chocolate is sold. Having imaginative treats that impact the body in more ways than one, illustrating an ingenious mind at word, he runs afoul of the Chocolate Cartel run by chocolate makers Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Fickelgruber (Matthew Baynton), and Prodnose (Matt Lucas), who’d just as soon have Wonka run out of town than deal with him and his endless, market-shaking ideas. All may seem lost to those with less determination and grit, but Wonka’s never met a problem that couldn’t be addressed creatively and, luckily, he finds himself with a few new friends whose specific talents may be just what Wonka needs to make all of their dreams come true.
L-R: Calah Lane as Noodle and Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka in Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ WONKA, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Let’s address the “Willy” of it all first — this film seems to borrow two tiny pieces from the 2005 Burton adaptation and then settles right into the world/lore of the Stuart adaptation. If one’s seen the trailers, we know that Wonka has a profound relationship with his mother (played here by Paddington series alum Sally Hawkins) and meets an Oompa-Loompa (played by Paddington 2’s Hugh Grant). These could easily be construed as borrowings from Burton as that film created a correlation between a parent and Wonka (in that case, a tense relationship between a dentist father and the sweets-loving child) and also showed audiences Wonka going to Loompaland. Considering the total vibe of Wonka is aggressive positivity, Hawkins’s role is far more supportive than domineering, making for a sweetness that envelopes the whole of Wonka like a tender, yet secure wrapper. Similarly, the interaction between Grant’s Lofty and Wonka is meant to establish what’s to come later, but the manner in which Farnaby accomplishes this is sly, only using Lofty insomuch as is necessary for the story without overstaying. “Leave them wanting more” perfectly describes the use of Lofty, allowing for a tiny bit of scene-stealing while still keeping the energy of the film moving forward and focused on Wonka’s journey. Additionally, the score from Joby Talbot (the Sing films) is lovely on its own, but it does use a few signature notes fans of the original Walter Scharf and Leslie Bricusse Willy Wonka score will recognize immediately; however, the snippets are brief enough that older audiences will understand the intertextuality at play while newer ones will simply recognize the magical implication the light tones add to the scenes in which they are used.
This gets to the major strength of Wonka as a prequel – it doesn’t expect the audience to know Willy Wonka, but, if you do, you get a little more out of it. This isn’t just musical flourishes, the appearance of an Oompa-Loompa, or even seeing Wonka eat something that one might not consider edible — it’s little things like character names, challenges of morality, the canonization of magic as a driver for Wonka’s showmanship, among many other things that won’t be mentioned so that they can be enjoyed as freshly as possible. A similar example of this being done, but poorly, is in Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) which held the camera on the Millenium Falcon upon its unveiling and not Solo himself, rewarding the audience and not centering what it means to the pilot to see the plane. Wonka doesn’t do this, including snippets of fan service in order to make small moments feel big, opting instead to keep the journey narrowly focused on what these things mean to Wonka. In the process, Farnaby and King add new meaning to aspects of Willy Wonka that deepen the emotional resonance in surprising ways, but do it in a way that doesn’t retcon or refigure the older film the way that some prequels might try to adjust lore to fit something new. Rather, Farnaby and King fashion a film that stands on its own merits as much as the other two films do, but, if one so chooses, the inferences and suggestions of this film can find their temporal echoes.
The one thing that I appreciate about Wonka is how it continues the anarchist, rebellious nature of Wonka that Wilder’s performance evokes. Played with a more light-hearted and innocent energy by Chalamet, this Wonka is not a someone seeking to become the greatest chocolate maker for selfish reasons, but because he grew up poor and understood the value of the delicious treat. So much so that he doesn’t ask for money upfront from patrons, rather, he expects that people will pay for his treats, even after ingestion, because it’s the right thing to do. This is what makes what he does so problematic for the Chocolate Cartel as they only see a bottom line and the means to control where customers gain their desserts. I’m not in any way suggesting that a film made by a massive corporation whose current CEO sees “content” and tax breaks rather than films created by artisans of varying specialties is itself a raconteur, but that it’s hard to deny the underlying themes of Wonka that suggest that capitalism is a problem and supporting art and pursuing dreams lead to a better way of life. There’s a throwaway line meant as a gag between two police officers that, I think, really gets to the heart of this, with the implication that, to those under the thumb of the Chocolate Cartel, there is no greater threat than a talented creator who might just carve out a corner of the market for himself. While some might think of Wilder’s Wonka as little more than a world-famous capitalist, keep in mind how Charlie wins the factory: for being kind, generous, and morally good. Even with all the traps that Wonka (then) may have picked up from those he engages with here (now), that doesn’t change how he sees what he does: a way of spreading joy through the smallest of gestures and creating comfort. There’s also the fact that where the Chocolate Cartel keep their sweets simple, Wonka uses elements from all over the world, refusing to turn up his nose at any ingredient that may produce delicious sweets — an insinuation that the only way to get the most out of this life is to refrain from being obtuse in our lives. Not many successful capitalists embrace such an ideology.
When it comes down to it, King’s Wonka is a Willy origin story by way of Paddington. There’s magic, absurdity, hilarity, heartbreak, romance, and danger, all enveloped in chocolate rather than orange marmalade. This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. Chalamet plays Wonka as so idealistic and open to the world that it does verge on the irrational (who could be so kind and generous always?), but he never betrays the innocence at his character’s core. The surrounding players are not as grounded as one may expect (with the exception of Calah Lane’s Noodle, who is the audience surrogate for much of the film), but this allows the world of Wonka to teeter between wildly fantastical and natural. That the production design and cinematography evokes a feeling of magical realism with its mix of traditional fictional storytelling and musical enchantment only enhances the sense that reality is a little overrated and going a little mad sometimes is good for the soul.
L-R: Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka and Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa in Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures’ WONKA, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
To that end, while Wonka may not win over diehards and the songs more often tend to play better in the moment than out of it, there’s enough to savor within the experience that a revisit seems assured for those who relish witnessing a myth being born. Personally, given the lack of importance placed on intertextuality to create meaning, preferring to reference the past (or the future?) in ways that make sense in the moment, Wonka is not only an entertaining and delightful film, it’s a sweet tale of the here-and-now whose echoes (should one notice them) only increase the enjoyment. More than that, Wonka reminds us that even high-end art can possess a surprising, thoughtful message about how kindness and generosity don’t make one weak, they make the world collectively strong.
In theaters December 15th, 2023.
For more information, head to the official Warner Bros. Pictures Wonka webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
Leave a Reply