Wonka only works as a prequel to 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory if we’ve suffered collective amnesia. Remember how much of the original film is dedicated to the inflicting of Old Testament-style punishments on ungrateful children? Or the outré foxiness of Gene Wilder’s central performance? This new Wonka – and its star Timothée Chalamet – certainly doesn’t retain that. Nor does the film incorporate any of the morbid psychedelia of the Wilder movie’s tunnel scene, which most people forget includes a shot of a chicken being decapitated.
Yet, Wonka’s inability to imitate its predecessor doesn’t feel like a failure when you consider this: it’s not so much a prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as it is a companion piece to director Paul King’s two Paddington movies. Much like those genteel, ursine escapades – released in 2014 and 2017, respectively – Wonka is old-fashioned, cinematic magic writ large. It whips up wit, warmth, and the beloved memories of classics past: there’s a big dollop of Mary Poppins here, a little Matilda, some Oliver!, and, then, unexpectedly, a pinch of Les Misérables.
