The Spire

Will Donahue ‘24

Chief Copy Editor

I began 2024 with a brand-new resolution: see one movie in theaters every week. So naturally, I’ve only been to theaters once this year. And that one movie was Paul King’s “Wonka,” the untold origin story of Roald Dahl’s iconic chocolatier. This was a movie that I went out of my way to avoid trailers for, more out of annoyance than fear of spoilers. I saw one promotional image of Hugh Grant’s Oompa-Loompa and thought it best I sat this one out. But after giving into curiosity and seeing the film for myself, I can confidently say this: my instincts were right. “Wonka” is a big, fat, sugary flop.

But first: the good. This movie got a few genuine laughs out of me. It was also beautiful to look at most of the time, particularly in the set design department (I’m a sucker for whimsical and vaguely European-looking architecture). And parts of this movie really did speak to my inner musical lover, even if the numbers were generally forgettable. I will never tire of lavish and over-choreographed dance sequences, of which this movie has several.

But at its core, “Wonka” is a toothless and needlessly sentimental cash grab, evocative of the worst of Disney’s live-action remakes. Though “Wonka” is not a remake of the 1971 classic “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” references to the film are abundant all the same, from the musical numbers to the visual design of the Oompa-Loompas. Despite these references, “Wonka” still misses a key component of the original film’s enduring success: the hints of darkness. Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka was almost as scary as he was whimsical, with his bizarrely unsettling boat ride remaining one of the original film’s most memorable scenes. Those dark undertones added layers to an otherwise bright experience; they made the moments of sweetness feel almost like a reprieve.

Timothée Chalamet’s take on the character contains no such layers. This is not the Willy Wonka who led those children down a tunnel of terror, who screamed his wits out at poor Charlie Bucket, or who launched that elevator into outer space (read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator – you’re missing out!). This is a Wonka with no depth to his sugary exterior; he’s all sweet, no sour. Perhaps some vocal talent could have elevated this performance from “bland” to “mildly impressive,” but there is no vocal talent to be found here. Chalamet is merely another in the long line of non-singing actors who have headlined musicals, seemingly for no reason other than name recognition.

All that said, I still do not regret seeing “Wonka.” Another one of my 2024 resolutions was to watch more bad movies – a challenge I have already more than risen to. I think there is value in watching any movie, good or bad, because bad movies help me articulate why I love good movies. I have never appreciated Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka more than I have now, and I’m even yearning to rewatch Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” from 2005 (an underrated classic, Depp Wonka aside). And it’s all because I pushed myself to watch this turd factory of a movie.