Wonka
The director Paul King channels the wit and wordplay of Roald Dahl for a truly scrumptious Dickensian musical, diluted only by a bland Timothée Chalamet in the title role.
Sweet dreams: Timothée Chalamet
As the UK government continues to ponder the future of tax on confectionary, along comes Warner’s sugar-rush for the Christmas holidays. Considering the negative effects of sweets, it seems appropriate that the season’s drug of choice – chocolate – is dished up here as a child-friendly equivalent to cocaine, heroin and ketamine. Thus Wonka, an origin story of the chocolatier Willy Wonka, is much about corruption, greed and even the misappropriation of organised religion. And so, just as Dr Who gets younger with each incarnation, so Wonka is given a makeover in the form of the young heartthrob Timothée Chalamet. This may ensure an extra number of young bums on seats, but it is the name of Roald Dahl that is really going to suck in the droves. Dahl remains an innovative anarchist, even as much of his language has been dry-cleaned for a woker world, although his imagination, and his way with words, continues to inspire.
The prequel is in good hands bearing in mind that it was Paul King who, with charm and ingenuity, rejuvenated the brand of Paddington. Here he and his co-writer Simon Farnaby have conjured up an imaginary, colour-blind universe with a Quality Street array of accents and cultures that owes as much to Dahl as it does to Dickens and musicals past. Thus Wonka sings of a “jungle near Mumbai” and other anachronisms abound, whatever fits the rhyme and plot.
But the songs are good and the dialogue sublime, while an array of accomplished character actors makes every note resonate with comic aplomb. Hugh Grant, as a supercilious, green-haired Oompa-Loompa, steals every scene he’s in, much as he did in Paul King’s Paddington 2. Besides the cornucopia of visual detail and the magical set design, there is a series of unfortunate events designed to keep younger viewers on the edge of their seats and a nimble-witted Wonka on his toes. Being a musical, it is a wise move to start the film with a song, before nary a line of dialogue has been uttered. Thus we find Wonka singing of his travels around the world, perfecting his craft as a magician, inventor and confectioner. Now he’s in town to ply his craft, disseminate his altruism and start up his own chocolate shop.
But there are malevolent forces at play, a chocolate cartel headed by Slugworth, Prodnose and Fickelgruber (perfect Dahl monickers) who will do anything to eradicate the competition (especially Wonka). But there are good souls, too, albeit suppressed by dubious authority figures, and a whole Swiss roll of a plot to be unfurled. While Chalamet is a little bland as Wonka (no match for his cinematic forebears Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp), the film ends on a high by introducing the classic Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley number ‘Pure Imagination’. And imagination is what Wonka has by the cartful.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Natasha Rothwell, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Rich Fulcher, Rakhee Thakrar, Tom Davis, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Simon Farnaby, Phil Wang, Charlotte Ritchie, Rufus Jones, Ellie White, Sophie Winkleman, Dominic Coleman.
Dir Paul King, Pro David Heyman, Alexandra Derbyshire and Luke Kelly, Screenplay Simon Farnaby and Paul King, Ph Chung-hoon Chung, Pro Des Nathan Crowley, Ed Mark Everson, Music Joby Talbot and Neil Hannon, Costumes Lindy Hemming, Sound Glenn Freemantle, Chocolate design Gabriella Cugno.
Village Roadshow Pictures/Heyday Films/The Roald Dahl Story Company-Warner Bros.
116 mins. UK/USA. 2023. UK Rel: 8 December 2023. US Rel: 15 December 2023. Cert. PG.
