Walking into a factory with an array of different shaped candies, a line of customers out the door and, of course, an abnormal amount of chocolate was always the vision young Willy hoped would become reality. Released on December 15th of 2023, “Wonka” portrays the journey, friendship and dedication of this young chocolatier.
Although fans were astonished by the opening song “Pure Imagination,” some definitely did not expect the rest of the movie to be a musical. Quickly enough, however, the entire audience followed along and started to understand what the rest of this movie really entailed. This movie reveals the roller coaster that Willy and a few new friends embarked on, solely for his work to become known.
From having to give away most of his money, to getting a temporary place to stay from a man named Mr. Bleacher, Willy quickly realized that he will have to put on a good show in the town in order for people to be intrigued by his chocolate. With the help of Noodle, the Oompa Loompas and new friends, Willy was able to go out each day in disguise to get customers for his future chocolate factory. As the singing was still involved, “The Chocolate Cartel” (who are the the three main chocolate shop owners of the town) caught on to what Mr. Wonka was trying to offer, and they were trying to stop him from his success that could hurt their businesses.
Compared to the other movies within the franchise, this movie definitely has a different plot and a variety of new characters. As many know, these movies usually surround a little boy winning a golden ticket to the famous chocolate factory and learning how it’s all made. “Wonka,” however, includes more background of how Willy Wonka achieved his fame as a chocolatier. I personally prefer this new movie, since I found that some parts were humorous. I also love the connections they included to the old movies, but with a new twist to them.
The talents from Timothée Chalamet, as Willy Wonka, and Calah Lane, as Noodle, were like no other, as they depicted these characters with unique touches. Additionally, the fashion within this movie really allowed me to understand the bubbly personalities many of these characters had. As the purple jacket and brown hat were still used just like in the original, some of the newer green, purple and brown clothing pieces really helped to show me the kind of expectations the people in “Galleries Gourmet” had. Other actors and actresses within this film include Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman and Keegan-Michael Key, who all had their own moments within the movie that helped bring the whole film together.
In the making of this movie, all of the producers and the Warner Brothers company really wanted the music of this film to be remembered by fans. A few songs such as “Scrub Scrub” and “You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This” quickly grew to be famous on TikTok, in addition to the icon dances within the scene. Timothée Chalamet’s appeal has also caused many fans to be engaged more with the film as he has been featured within many other notable movies.
While “Wonka” just hit over $500 million in box office, the nearly two hour film has yet to fail any of the magical dreams that the audience hopes to see within this movie.
