Wonka is the newest movie to hit theaters this December. It is a spin-off of the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that takes you through the backstory of how Willy became Willy Wonka and built his chocolate empire. This movie hit theaters on December 15th, costing a whopping $125 million to create. Here is my honest review of the movie alone and how it ties into the original plot line.

First, let me give you some background. Timothée Chalamet plays the role of Wonka, a 22-year-old dreamer who sets off to sell his chocolate at the biggest emporium in the world, the Galeries Gourmet. This story is set way before Willy has run his empire and takes us through the hardships of starting his business. Willy is a kind-hearted loveable character who puts complete trust in others and is truly selfless. We see this get him into trouble throughout the movie but also create some long-lasting bonds among other characters.

I saw this movie on its premier day (Dec 15th) at Palms Theater in Waukee. I sat down took my seat and watched as the movie unravelled before my eyes. If you don’t like spoilers I would skip ahead a few sentences as I will be discussing the storyline starting now.

SUMMARY (SPOILERS):

The movie starts out with you guessed it… a song. Willy sings as he travels from his various adventures of collecting ingredients into Europe, where his dreams lie. He makes his way through the city as he sings about having 12 silver shillings in his pocket. On his first day, he burns through all of this money by giving it away to those who need it more than himself, leaving him without a place to spend the cold winter night.

This is where Willy’s troubles begin. A seemly kind man walks up to him as he prepares a bench as his bed to spend the night on. He tells Willy that he has a better place where he can spend a warm comfortable night for free. He then takes Willy to “Scrubbits,” an Inn where Willy is offered a free night of rest in exchange for 1 shilling the next night. However, Willy fails to read the fine print and ends up putting himself in a pickle where he owes the innkeeper 10,000 Shillings instead of the 1 he promised.

Wonka is then imprisoned in the basement where he is told he must work for the next 27 years of his life in order to pay off his stay. Here Wonka meets his soon-to-be friends who have also fallen into the set trap that is a free night of hosbiltality. Notebly he meets Noodle, a young girl who has been in the Inn her entire life. He instantly takes a liking to her and makes a deal with her that he will give her a lifetime supply of chocolate under one circumstance. Noodles must sneak him in and out of the basement every day so he can sell his chocolate.

This quickly leads to them becoming the best of friends. They go on adventures to collect ingredients and Wonka, who is up against the 3 largest names in chocolate, starts selling his goods. He is chased down by the police chief who is bribed with chocolate to hunt down and get rid of Wonka, as the big 3 want him out of the picture.

This goes on for a while with the other trapped workers chipping in to sell, alert, and help Willy on his road to success. Wonka ends up getting caught by the Big 3 and forced to take a deal where he gives up making chocolate forever in exchange for his friend’s release from their imprisonment in the Inn. However, they do not keep their end of the promise and Noodle is sentenced to life in the Inn.

Willy finds this out and comes back to set her free. Together they sneak into the Big 3’s secret layer in an attempt to obtain their files filled with bribes and illegal activity. They believe that if they can get this book to the police, they will all be free and Willy can sell chocolate again, but their plan takes a twist.

I’ll let you decide if you want to find out how it all ends. Will Noodle be set free and find her parents again? Will Willy get to sell chocolate? Watch Wonka in your local theater to find out.

MY OPINION:

Personally, this movie was a huge hit. I loved how it took me through the back story of a classic movie while also adding some plot twists and catchy songs. I would recommend seeing this movie with your family or friends as it is a family-friendly movie that anyone can enjoy.

However, I do think that there were some slight missed opportunities and mistakes throughout the film.

First of all, the changes from very dark scenes to bright color-filled frames were slightly hard to watch. It might have just been the theater I watched it in, but some scenes were very blurry when they moved quickly. It hurt my eyes when this happened and it almost looked like I needed 3-D glasses to clear up the scene. This only happened a couple of times throughout the film but was noticeable when it did happen.

I also thought that throughout the film, there were some missed opportunities to tie sections back to the original. The Oompa-Loompa situation was one of the biggest missed opportunities in my opinion. I think that instead of having one outcast Oompa-Loompa, they should have had him make up with his friends or tie it up in a way that explained how they all ended up working for Willy.