Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve seen the latest musical fantasy film called ‘Wonka’ at the cinema. This happens to be an origin story for Willy Wonka, a character in the 1964 book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl. It’s also a prequel to the 1971 film ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ with Gene Wilder.
I must admit, I was sceptical about the notion of a Willy Wonka prequel film when it was first announced in 2016. Not that the idea is bad, it’s just I wasn’t very sure whether it would be good enough. Also, I wasn’t eager to see a prequel film about Willy Wonka and wasn’t that hyped about it.
After seeing the film at the cinema, it turned out to be better than I expected. I don’t think it’s as good as ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ with Gene Wilder, but it’s a huge improvement over the 2005 ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ film, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Deep.
Timothée Chalamet is also very good as the young Willy Wonka in this film. I’ve seen Timothée Chalamet before in the 2019 film ‘Little Women’ and he’s well-known for being in the two latest ‘Dune’ films. His enthusiasm in playing Willy Wonka shines throughout, especially when he’s singing.
What interests me about this film is that it’s directed by Paul King, who directed the first two ‘Paddington’ films. Paul King also co-wrote the film with Simon Farnaby, who worked on the ‘Paddington’ films too, both as an actor and a writer. Their styles clearly shine throughout this film. 🙂
The film takes place in an ambiguous city, where a young, poor but enthusiastic Willy Wonka is keen with his dream to open a shop in the city and sell his new kind of chocolate. Unfortunately, Wonka finds himself beset by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers, including Slugworth, who wants Wonka out. 😐
As well as Timothée Chalamet, the film’s cast is stellar. It’s amazing and amusing to see many faces I recognised in the film, having seen and heard them in other things. There’s also young talent in the film, specifically when Timothée Chalamet as Wonka is teamed up with Calah Lane as Noodle. 🙂
Noodle is an orphan girl whom Wonka meets and she becomes his assistant. There’s Keegan-Michael Key as the Chief-of-Police in the city. I’ve heard Keegan-Michael Key voice characters in ‘Toy Story 4’ and 2019’s ‘The Lion King’. It’s amusing that his character got fatter from eating so much chocolate. 😀
Paterson Joseph (who I’ve seen in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Bad Wolf’/’The Parting of the Ways’ and heard in the Big Finish audio ‘Earth Aid’) stars as Arthur Slugworth. It was interesting to see how Slugworth became a rival for Wonka, the villain of this film and he was somehow related to Noodle.
Matt Lucas (who played Nardole in Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series with Peter Capaldi) stars as Prodnose, one of Slugworth’s associates. Mathew Baynton (who I’ve seen in ‘Horrible Histories’ with Simon Farnaby 😀 ) stars as Fickelgruber, another of Slugworth’s associates in the film.
There’s Sally Hawkins (who I’ve seen in 2007’s ‘Persuasion’, the ‘Paddington’ movies and ‘The Shape of Water’) as Willy Wonka’s late mother, and there’s Rowan Atkinson (who I’ve seen as ‘Mr. Bean’, ‘Blackadder’ and the Unbound Ninth Doctor in ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’) as Father Julius, a priest. 🙂
Wonka has help from friends like Jim Carter (well-known for being in ‘Downton Abbey’) as Abacus Crunch, Natasha Rothwell (who’s been in the two ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movies) as Piper Benz, Rich Fulcher as Larry Chucklesworth and Rakhee Thakrar (who I’ve heard in the ‘Star Cops’ audios and she’s in the ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish with Paul McGann) as Lottie Bell.
Olivia Colman (who I’ve seen in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Eleventh Hour’ with Matt Smith and ‘The Favourite’) stars as Mrs. Scrubitt and Tom Davis stars as Bleacher. Apparently, according to my best mate Stephen, Scrubbit and Bleacher became the Twits at the film’s end, which is so intriguing.
Perhaps a film adaptation of ‘The Twits’ by Roald Dahl is on its way. 😀 Hugh Grant plays an Oompa-Loompa in the film called Lofty. It was fun to see Hugh Grant in this film and it’s intriguing how he played an Oompa-Loompa that was following Willy Wonka, as Wonka stole cocoa beans from Oompa-Land.
There’s Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Officer Affable, Simon Farnaby as Basil, Charlotte Ritchie (who I’ve seen in ‘Call the Midwife’, the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Resolution’, and ‘Grantchester’) as Barbara – a different Barbara instead of the one from ‘Call the Midwife’, I believe – and Ellie White as Gwennie. 🙂
Sophie Winkleman stars as the Countess, and there’s Murray McArthur as a ship captain, Tracy Ifeacher as Dorothy Smith, Isy Suttie as a fruit & veg vendor, Phil Wang as Colin and Tim FitzHigham as a sinister ship captain. The performances of the cast are excellent, and they do well in the film’s musical numbers.
There are some original songs in the film, including ‘A Hatful of Dreams’, ‘You’ve Never Had Chocolte Like This’, ‘Sweet Tooth’ and ‘A World of Your Own’. I was pleased to hear the ‘Oompa Lompa’ song sung by Hugh Grant and there’s ‘Pure Imagination’ sung by Timothée Chalamet from the 1971 film. 🙂
‘Wonka’ is a film that kept me interested throughout whilst watching it at the cinema. I shared a ‘Wonka’ chocolate bar with my best mate Stephen when we saw the film at the cinema. I also enjoyed a bottle of Yazoo chocolate milk at the cinema. Seeing this film did make me feel hungry and thirsty. 😀
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Hi Tim
Yep I was just a tad cautious about this; but only over the hyper-contreversy over the non-use of dwarf actor/oompa loompah casting. Deep breath and… in we go:
Oh. My. Days. I’ve seen the new Wonka offering – twice; yes TWICE (and will happily see it several times more…) and call me a hopeless romantic but (for those of us of a certain age who remember the original ’71 with childhood fondness will perhaps be biased) lf I may: it made me shed a tear or three because – they’ve only gone and bleedin’ well captured it magically perfectly – because (in 10 easy reasons):
1) It keeps the human charm of the original (something the hideous – IMHO – 2005 abberation, ahem sorry ‘effort’ was never gonna do; even with that very nice Mr JD at the helm). Paul King’s deft hand clearly working the magic dust in this new tale. Wilder was almost Peter Pan-ish in that he was never gonna be a grown up. TC isn’t yet ‘quite’ grown-up but he clearly doesn’t want to loose the wonder of being a ‘kid’. You cannot do this with clever CGI on its own.
2) It connects with the original through sweet characterisations at a human level: the baddies are really nasty but in a comical way hence they are menacing enough but suitably clumsy (cue ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ – boo hiss!) the goodies are good but in an honest heart-warming wholesome way.
3) Subtle nods to the original that confirm Wonka’s eccentricity viz: his “…scrub that; reverse it…” quip very early on.
4) The CGI is used to support the lovely story; not as a demonstration of look how clever CGI can be. But even that is held back in some areas as it’s used to make an analogue world seem real e.g. Wonka’s portable choccy-making machine-bag-box and his top hat!
5) The art direction pays homage to the original through the colourisation = not the contemporary technicolour palette but a step or three into the polaroid spectrum.
6) The choreography clearly has layers of Mary Poppins and Oliver rushing through and boy it looks a treat; thankfully (or not depending on how you feel) no pseudo cockney urchin exclaiming ‘…gor-blimey Mrs Scrubbit!…’ (although DVD in Poppins is still so ludicrously cheesy it still stands up well even now)
7) It keeps the 2 best songs from the original (the ‘Oompah Loompa’ anthem and the sweet ‘Pure Imagination’ plus: an absolute slammer of an original new tune that could have come from the original; I’m talking of course about the sublimely catchy “A World of Your Own”. The ‘tune that got away’ or ‘I’m sure I’ve heard that before’… You WILL be whistling this for day a swear. Same heartstrings being pulled as the music from La La Land. And then of course using ‘Pure Imagination’ just where you don’t expect it at the end to hook you on the happy ending we all want (and sort of knew would come but how…? – wraps everything up beautifully. Cue the tears.
8) Casting TC as Wonka is perfect because; well OK yes he’s kind of yes we’ve seen him in this and that and etc but he’s not the A-list supername that they could have used which would have been a mistake, since it allows TC to let you into Wonka’s world not the big name actors ‘ego’. Hugh Grant in a ‘supporting’ role is the understatement of the year and some might say he’s stolen the show (again – per Paddington). other well known faces provide familiarity without it becoming an A/B list casting tent.
9) Plenty of social conscience and morality messages in there to keep it relevant without ramming them down your lollipop. Plus of course the story has enough magic in it to make it whimsical but infuriatingly credible – almost impossible for a prequel to achieve’ especially with a subject so dear to many viewers’ hearts.
10) And finally – the lighthearted bonus ending wraps it all up in time for that dangerously catchy tune at the end.
What’s not to love? – now where’s that box of festive choccies…?
Of course it’s not everyone’s cup of cocoa but hey I think it should come pretty damn close. But it’s only opinion…
Lots of nostalgic love
M
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Hi Michael,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘Wonka’. Glad you enjoyed the film. My parents and I are hoping to see the film at the cinema sometime in the Christmas week.
Yes, I was aware of the Oompa Loompa casting controversy concerning Hugh Grant and not using a dwarf actor to play the character, but I still enjoyed the film despite that and Hugh Grant is good in the role he played. I’ve not done a review on the 2005 film with Johnny Deep yet, but hopefully I will soon along with an in-depth review on the ‘Wonka’ film. I enjoyed how Paul King directed this film, especially after enjoying his and Simon Farnaby’s work on the ‘Paddington’ movies. I’m looking forward to how they handle ‘Paddington in Peru’ in 2024, albeit with a different director. I’ve listened to ‘A World of Your Own’ and the latest version of ‘Pure Imagination’ on YouTube recently.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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