Someone should have told me that this was by the same writer/director as Paddington and Paddington 2. I'd have been considerably more excited to see this film had I known that.
But... No matter. I'm absolutely shocked to say that I really loved Wonka.
It's a film that I didn't understand why it was made in the first place, but it totally won me over with an incredibly charming script, lovely songs, and universal themes about friendship, optimism, and keeping your promises. Paul King's visual style here looks a lot like it did in the Paddington films -- warm and fantastical, but still grounded. Like an alternate Victorian + 1930s London.
Timothée Chalamet's version of Willy Wonka is not Gene Wilder's, but it's not that far off and it's not bad by any means.
He's a young, wide-eyed entrepreneur with a flare for magical theatrics and exceptional skills as a chocolatier who attempts to make it in business competing with the three legendary chocolate makers in the big city, believing they will be excited to try his fabulous new creations.
Wonka's first day in town doesn't go quite as planned and he ends up unable to afford a hotel. He meets a stranger who takes him to a woman (Olivia Coleman) that runs a laundry business and who allows him to stay in the rooms above her shop. In order to pay his debts, he goes to the town square and puts on a little show, selling levitating chocolate to a huge crowd of excited buyers and introduces himself to the three men who run the other chocolate companies.
Unfortunately... The three competitors turn out to have formed a cartel and work to thwart Wonka's dreams using their connections to the clergy and with the help of a corrupt constable (Keegan Michael Key, who's bribed with chocolate and gets fatter and fatter throughout the film). They make great villains for the film, but this is also almost always how businesses in the real world prevent competition: With the help of the state/law.
They have Wonka's profits confiscated and boot him from the town square for "disrupting the flow of business" (ie. competing with them without having their approval). The cops tell him that he can only sell chocolate there if he has a shop, but of course, he can't yet afford that... especially since his earnings were taken away.
When he can't pay for the room and ends up becoming somewhat of an indentured servant, scrubbing clothes for the laundry business with a ragtag group of other folks who didn't read the fine print. Wonka quickly befriends the crew -- especially a child named Noodle (played by relative newcomer, Calah Lane) and they join him in his quest to escape his indentured servitude and help him bring his incredible chocolates to the world.
Much like Paddington, this is such a pure-hearted, wonderful movie for kids and families. Wonka is even a great role model, refusing to steal even when it would be easy, solving problems with ingenuity and inventiveness, promoting entrepreneurship, and steadfastly living up to the promises he's made -- including the ones he shouldn't have.
Can't wait to see more from Paul King.