Chalamet gives us lighter, sweeter take on candy man
The new “Wonka” works considerably better than its reasons for existence would suggest. It exists because, why not? It’s one more brand-familiar origin story, the easiest thing in the movie world to get made, requiring everything but a new idea.
It exists because it’s one more musicalization of nonmusical source material, adding seven original songs to a project attached to Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The 1971 film version of that novel, with Gene Wilder as candy magnate Willy Wonka, was likewise a musical; two of its more enduring tunes, “Pure Imagination” and the “Oompa Loompa” song, turn up in the latest screen addition to Wonkalore.
Where does it go right? If you enjoyed either of the “Paddington” movies, particularly the second one, you’ll find “Wonka” a spiritually related cousin in its wit, bounce and general lack of aggravated charm assaults. Director Paul King and his “Paddington 2” co-writer Simon Farnaby manage this little chunk of intellectual property quite well. And as Wonka, Timothée Chalamet lightens the load, delivering the majority of his lines in a style (to swipe a line from Cole Porter) classifiable as “murmuring low” and taking it easy.
We meet Wonka as a young, orphaned adult working as a ship’s cook, sailing into port eager to find his fortune in designer chocolates with a side of magic. The city is not London, but the geography and details evoke the come-onecome-all London of the
“Paddington” films.
In short order, sweet, trusting Willy runs afoul of a sinister laundress (Olivia Colman). Her boardinghouse is really an enslavement camp for the unsuspecting; since he cannot read, Willy signs at check-in without reading the indentured-servitude fine print. So it’s up to him, his chocolatier ambitions and his fellow captives to bust out and make good.
Much of the film stays close to the friendship between Willy and fellow orphan Noodle (Calah Lane). Outside the grim laundry confines, once Willy escapes and sets up shop, his nemeses multiply: There’s a trio of chocolate-cartel candy impresarios, plus a cop played by Keegan-Michael Key, stuck uncomfortably inside the latex of a fatphobic running gag.
The songs by Neil Hannon range from serviceable to serviceable with a smile. Hugh Grant may not be nearly as fun as he was in “Paddington 2,” but his dandified OompaLoompa has its moments. And while “Wonka” overfills its slate with two or three escalating climaxes,
the throwaway verbal jokes en route keep the contraption humming.
Neither script nor actor have much interest in capturing hints of Wonka’s callous, misanthropic streak as imagined by
Dahl and the earlier films’ interpretations. Since my childhood familiarity for the wonky, clunky ’71 “Willy Wonka” counts for only so much (the 2005 Tim Burton/Johnny Depp remake, even less), the new take won me over. Chalamet handles the musical demands with a light tenor and nimble dance moves. The physical creations of the city look and feel like wood and brass and realish stuff, thanks to production designer Nathan Crowley (“The Dark Knight,” “The Greatest Showman”). And somehow, “Wonka” solves one of the sternest design challenges in cinema: Making a chocolate river look like something other than a wastewater treatment plant’s worst day ever.
MPA rating: PG (for some violence, mild language and thematic elements) Running time: 1:56
How to watch: In theaters