Richard Yu

Spoilers: Honestly, I really wanted to enjoy this film, but it just felt like it had no direction at times. I came into this movie under the impression that it would be a Wonka origin story. But, we learn nothing new or interesting about the character, and we're just told a story of how his factory is set up, which I think is a much less interesting premise with much lower stakes. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the writing of the deuteragonist - the relationship she has with Wonka feels less worldly traveller becoming a guardian, and more teenager who wings everything putting those around him at risk, and I feel like that ruins a lot of the story, because we get exposition to see why Wonka does what he does, and we never truly understand the stakes for him, bar a flashback into a generic childhood promise from his mother. Further, Timothee Chalamat's performance felt a bit bland and dull at times. In a way, this was the Jared Leto of Wonka actors. I do believe that Gene Wilder played a great comedic Wonka, Johnny Depp's Wonka succeeded with many thanks to Tim Burton's eccentric and bizarre style to create memorable characters. But here, the performance just does not feel memorable. There is a distinct lack of this eccentricity, which I think makes the character so lovable to begin with, as it is this fascination we have with the man behind the chocolate that drove most of us (at least most of us old enough to remember the book and original movie). Even if it isn't meant to be a Wonka origin story, I'd argue that any other story it tries to tell fails more. As much as I don't want to talk about this, the movie tries to hard to be smart with its digs at capitalism and corruption of those in power, but that message gets undercut by the lack of intention of Wonka himself, who inevitably plays into the capitalist system with both his business storefront and future factory. Wonka's message of 'changing the system' does not work when we see him eventually forming part of the system itself. I will say, Hugh Grant's performance in this was great. His character this movie's saving grace in my opinion, but it is no where near enough to save this cacophony of a story. The composition of the score was great, but again, nothing felt memorable in the same way 'Pure Imagination' did, and I had high hopes that it would be.