Carl G

I don't really like musicals. So I forced myself to give it an extra star because while I found myself rolling my eyes whenever a new sequence started, that's not the movies fault. I write this review having watched the movie without seeing the trailer, not having read the book, and with no particular reverence for the other Wonka movies. It was charming and silly. Every character was pretty one dimensional, but I don't think we were going for character development with this film, so again, I can't criticize something it wasn't trying to be good at. I think the costume designs were great, the dance routines were good, etc. What I will say is there's a giant plot hole that never really gets addressed. (Spoiler incoming) After Willy Wonka opens his shop and everyone is promptly poisoned by his sabotaged candy, the crowd riots and starts smashing all his things. Like, they are furious. This is never reconciled. The movie never addresses the fact that the townspeople hate him for making them sick, he just 'beats the villains' and then decides to open up his factory in an abandoned castle up the hill. Are we forgetting that he made tons of people ill and never remedied this? Why would anyone want to support him, when the villagers literally tore his shop apart? (End spoiler) 3.5, rounded up to 4.