Wonka Movie Review

3 Reasons why you need to check out ‘Wonka’.

When it was announced that we were receiving a new prequel film, exploring the origins of everyone’s favourite chocolateer, Willy Wonka, I just wasn’t interested. I am a massive fan of the 1971 film ‘Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory’, strongly regarding Gene Wilder’s performance as Willy Wonka as one of my favourites of all time. Tim Burton’s 2005 ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’, fell flat for me, not living up to the potential here of having the biggest movie star of the time in Johnny Depp, once again teaming up with frequent collaborator, Tim Burton with Danny Elfman writing original music for the film and the film promising to explore the origins of Willy Wonka and delving further into the darker and downright creep elements of Roald Dahl’s original source material. But unfortunately, the film fell flat, never tapping into its potential.

When it was announced that Paddington and Paddington 2 writer/director Paul King would be penning a script for this film and taking on director duties, my interests were definitely peaked.  Timothée Chalamet signed on as a young Willy Wonka and the film started to take shape. The first trailer still didn’t have me convinced, but hungry for a film over the Christmas break, I ventured to the cinemas and checked it out and boy oh boy, was I impressed. It’s a testament to Paul King as a creative talent, understanding wholeheartedly what makes a family film work. This isn’t just a great musical, it is a heartfelt story of redemption, following your dreams and finding family in the most unsuspecting places. I adored ‘Wonka’ and it did find its way onto my favourite films of 2023 list. The film went on to gross over $625 million at the worldwide box office. Now here we are 3 months later, and Wonka is making its way to physical media, releasing on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD on 13 March. To celebrate the film's release on home media, I will be breaking down 3 reasons why you need to check out ‘Wonka’. So, without further ado, let’s get stuck in shall we.

“There’s chocolate and there’s chocolate” – the music –

One of the strongest elements from all 3 Willy Wonka films is of course the music. Paul King understood just how important nailing this aspect would be in making the film work, without it, the film would still be thoroughly entertaining, but nowhere near as charming and memorable. The music was helmed by veterans in the industry Joby Talbot (Sing and Sing 2) and Neil Hannon (Doctor Who and The I.T Crowd) and both here did a fantastic job, writing memorable tunes such as ‘A Hatful of Dreams’, ‘Scrub, Scrub’ and ‘You’ve never had chocolate like this’. These tunes were unfortunately overlooked at the 2024 Academy Awards (Oscar’s) for original song, which is disappointing, considering how popular each of these songs has become. If you’re a musical fan, you will be very satisfied with the film from a musical aspect, it's simply stunning.

“Mark my words this is going to be the greatest chocolate shop the world has ever seen!” – the fantastic cast –

Timothée Chalamet has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most sought after young stars. With leading roles in films such as; Bones and All, Dune and Dune: Part 2 and Call Me By Your Name, including supporting roles in Beautiful Boy, Little Women, Lady Bird and Don’t Look Up. He is a true star and his inclusion here as a young Willy Wonka was an inspired piece of casting. One of my concerns was he was going to try and do an imitation of Gene Wilder, and as mentioned, I look at that performance with great love, respect, and admiration. Thankfully,  Chalamet is giving his own interpretation of the character, with his signature charm and wit. His choices here are inspired, clearly drawing on Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka, but never copying or imitating this iconic performance. The supporting work here is also great, with Olivia Coleman as Mrs. Scrubitt, Calah Lane as Noodle, Sally Hawkins in flashbacks as Mrs Wonka, Hugh Grant as the original or ‘OG’ Oompa Loompa and Paterson Joseph as the film’s main antagonist, Slugworth all turning in scene stealing performances, complementing Paul King’s clear vision and  Timothée Chalamet’s inspired performance.

“How do you like it? White, dark, nutty, absolutely insane?” – production design –

One of the strongest elements of each iteration of Roald Dahl’s classic source materials, has been the incredible world building brought to life by the sublime production design. Paul King’s Wonka follows closely behind the previous iterations, providing us with a gorgeous film, filled with life, incredible world building and real sets that look simply stunning. 6-time Academy Award nominated production designer and Christopher Nolan’s preferred production designer, working on 8 projects with Nolan over the years, Nathan Crowley (Tenet, First Man, Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Prestige). The colours here really pop, complimenting the costume design from Oscar winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (Topsy Turvy), both elements going hand in hand, and creating a lived-in world full of imagination and wonder. This is my favourite iteration of the Wonka world, with the film feeling like a fantasy or dream has come to life, which is the exact type of wonderment I want to feel when watching a Roald Dahl adaptation.

‘Wonka’ was one of my favourite filmgoing experiences of 2023. As mentioned above, I was prepared to be this film's biggest critics, but the film defied my expectations, proving to be a great family film, a fantastic musical and an all round amazing cinematic experience. If you are like me, and a little sceptical, put that scepticism to bed and pick-up a copy of ‘Wonka’ on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K Ultra HD from Sanity today, you won’t be disappointed. Link below.

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Long live physical media!

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Buy Wonka Movie on DVD, Blu-ray or 4K UHD here

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here