Film: Wonka

With Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is the book. I always get that wrong) being one of the timeless films of my childhood, I ignored the remake a few years back.

Like I ignored Charlie's Angels and Starsky & Hutch remakes.

Wonka (Timothée Chalamet), however, promises to tell the story of how the factory came to be and thankfully, it is everything I’d hoped it would be.

It did open with a song which threw me a bit but I quickly forgot it was a musical. There is so much colour and warmth and heart in this film to consume you. Then there is the wit, not all of it dark. We have the chocolate cartel of which Slugworth (Paterson Joseph) is the leader, and is protected by the police and the rest of the establishment. And the wicked landlady Mrs Scrubbit (Olivia Colman) and her sidekick, Bleacher.

We learn where Wonka’s obsession with chocolate started, how he ended up alone in the big city, and where his endless optimism and hope originated. We also know where the Oompa Loompas came into the fold through Lofty (Hugh Grant).

Wonka lands himself in a lifetime’s amount of debt after spending one night in a laundry, where he later finds out that slaves work to pay off their debt. Here he meets the delightful orphan Noodle who is entranced by Wonka’s charm and chocolate. Who wouldn’t be enchanted by chocolate that makes you fly?

With a cast of recognisable actors, the utterly watchable technicolour prequel unfurls.

I can easily watch this again and again, just like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

8/10