I am not a Ronald Dahl fan and have yet to enjoy any movies based on his stories. But the trailer for this latest try actually looked good, and Timothée Chalamet looked like Willy Wonka should. So I thought I'd give it a chance.
Wonka is a 2023 musical children's film inspired by a story by Ronald Dahl. It is rated PG and is appropriate for most ages.
Analysis
Timothée Chalamet. Timothée Chalamet made the movie. He looked the part and exuded the innocence, wackiness, and excitement of the character. I was surprised at how well he sang and danced.
Songs and Dancing. Almost all of the songs were really good. The dancing was fun and helped the movie move forward.
Art Direction. The visual look of the film was exactly what I expected it to be. It looked very much like a storybook.
Story. The story was weak with a lot of on-the-nose writing, heavy handed theme explaining, and goofy plot devices.
Cleverness. There were a lot of clever moments in the film that I just loved.
Silliness. There was a lot of silliness in the film that made it boring for adults and moved it from the family movie realm to a kids' film. It wasn't necessary to talk down to the audience and would have been a stronger film if they hadn't done that.
Overall
Wonka is a 2023 musical children's film inspired by a story by Ronald Dahl. It is rated PG and is appropriate for most ages. Timothée Chalamet made the movie. He looked the part and exuded the innocence, wackiness, and excitement of the character. I was surprised at how well he sang and danced. Almost all of the songs were really good. The dancing was fun and helped the movie move forward. The visual look of the film was exactly what I expected it to be. It looked very much like a storybook. The story was weak with a lot of on-the-nose writing, heavy handed theme explaining, and goofy plot devices. There were a lot of clever moments in the film that I just loved. There was a lot of silliness in the film that made it boring for adults and moved it from the family movie realm to a kids' film. It wasn't necessary to talk down to the audience and would have been a stronger film if they hadn't done that. The film is overall entertaining with the good moments worth sitting thru the not-so-good moments. I give this film 3.5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.
