J.R. Hartley

Wonka offers tonnes of cinematic magic and silliness, however has a few nitpicks too. Timothée Chalamet was fantastic in this movie. Wonka pays a lot of lip service to the original 1971 film, so if you enjoyed the Gene Wilder classic, then you'll certainly enjoy this movie. And Chalamet really does a lot to bridge the gap between the '71 release and the book. His portrayal of Wonka is a lot warmer, and the film in general has a much more feel good factor. The plot itself is fine. Nothing groundbreaking, and does an all round decent job of setting up how Willy Wonka starts his Choco-empire. And being a Heyday film, the same people who produced Harry Potter, it offers what they do best. Lots of magic and great British castings. It has a slight Fantastic Beasts vibe to the movie, especially with the world creaton and how they portray Wonka's chocolate skills. What I didnt like... As a fan of Roald Dahl's books, was the deviation from his story. Yes, Wonka wasn't written by Dahl, but it didn't feel as though it really blended into his original vision of Charlie and the Chocolate factory, instead becoming this proto-Potter / Wonka movie that pays homage to the '71 film which also deviated heavily too. One of my highlights was the badguys... Slugworth, Prodnose and Fickelgruber. Dahls ability to create malice in the world, yet still make a fun story was always one of his great skills, and they do a good job in Wonka of carrying this over. And Paterson Joseph as Slugworth was outstanding, and every time him and Matthew Baynton came on, I was excited to see what they got up to as bad guys. However, they were totally let down by the bad casting of Matt Lucas, who really falls flat and awkwardly placed in the film. Shame. Olivia Colman also delivers another great bad guy story arc in the movie, and finely balances an evil villain with outwardly hilarious moments too. TL/DR: Its a good fun family movie. Very well cast, with some great individual performances. However a couple of bad portrayals, and a not so authentic Dahl experience bring it down to being an decent day out in the cinema.