La Casati

Absolutely no back story to justify this prequel. Wonka is a mysterious, strange and damaged man and yet this film gives no answers or explanations of his adult psyche. The scripts were so bad that not even the mighty Olivia Coleman could chew convincingly on them. The songs were insipid, like they were being ad-libbed as they went along and their lyrics, as meaningless as the non existent melodies. What’s with the cringing over use of the “pinkie promise”? Surely some originality in line with Roald Dahl’s fabulous imagination would have been a lovely challenge for the writers of this film? So lazy. The sheer delight of chocolate and candy treats is a thing of the past and really has no impact on today’s “seen it, bought it, eaten it all” society. The sweetness of the story is lost and irrelevant. The essence of Dahl’s tough-love style of writing has been completely dismissed in this film. One star for the visually pleasing and traditional imagery. One star for the anti trans line “no one gets away with putting a moustache on my daughter!” and the brave and blatant fat shaming scenes.