Like all of us, Timothee Chalamet was worried that Wonka was a 'cynical money-grab' designed to take advantage of an existing intellectual property.
At the moment, remakes, sequels, reboots and 'requels' are the in-thing in Hollywood. More often than not, 'legacy' characters are brought back from previous movies to trigger nostalgia, with new characters also introduced.
Wonka, directed by Paul King, is a straight prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the beloved children's movie starring Gene Wilder in the title role.
Chalamet changed his mind about the project after reading the first few pages of the script which included the opening musical number.
“Like many people, when there are remakes, I feel very protective over the original character and versions you love,” the young A-lister told TotalFilm.
“Your eyebrows go up with scepticism about whether this is a legitimate, worthwhile story or a cynical money grab.
“The song ‘Hat Full of Dreams’ was in there. And there was no music to accompany it, but the lyrics were so clever. It's about this young Willy, who was definitively not the crazy, cynical, kind of jaded, brain-fried version that we see in the two prior films but was very hopeful, young, ambitious, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer, maybe a little naive. I think that’s very clever.”
Wonka reviews
"Wonka is a winning confection, filled with perfect amounts of charm, whimsy & poignancy, powered by pure imagination & bright, nimble musical numbers. Timothée Chalamet is a charisma factory. His full committal is intoxicating. Hugh Grant in exceptional IDGAF mode." - Courtney Howard of Variety.
"Timothée Chalamet is reason alone to see Wonka. He’s infinitely charming & a blast to watch. The movie around him isn’t as good but it’s enjoyable. The story & tone fight against each other leaving it a bit muddled. And yet it's filled with joy & the songs are delightful." - Germain Lussier of Gizmodo.
"Wonka is a super charming delight powered by an exceptional & pitch-perfect performance from Timothée Chalamet. It can get quite silly and there’s a few plot points that are a tad on the thin side, but that couldn’t stop such an impossibly sweet film with a hefty & very effective dose of sincerity from warming my heart." - Perri Nemiroff of Collider.
"Wonka is unabashedly silly, and a perfectly charming family film. Wonka’s world is brilliantly designed, capturing the wonder of his early years. Embracing a quirky, heartwarming tone, Wonka is funny and sweet enough to overcome any minor bumps in the road." - Daniel Howat of Next Best Picture.
#Wonka is a super charming delight powered by an exceptional & pitch-perfect performance from Timothée Chalamet. It can get quite silly and there’s a few plot points that are a tad on the thin side, but that couldn’t stop such an impossibly sweet film with a hefty & very… pic.twitter.com/1SLMmRPSGY— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) November 28, 2023
"Wonka is an instant holiday classic & a truly magical time at the movies. Paul King’s whimsical style works as well here as it did in Paddington, every musical number enchants, & the entire ensemble takes turns stealing the show, led by an endlessly charming Timothée Chalamet." - Zoe Rose Bryant of ScreenRant.
“Wonka is harmless. It has winning elements in a fairly unremarkable attempt to replicate Dahl’s spirit, and while it was always going to have nostalgia plays by default, I wish they weren’t used as a shortcut for key emotional beats.” - Aaron Neuwirth of We Live Entertainment.
“While Paul King’s Wonka doesn’t quite reach the charming and beguiling heights of the Paddington movies, it is still a delightfully sweet treat.” – Simon Thompson of Forbes.
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