Musicals are often stereotyped as weak movies with a basic plot, riddled with large scenes of dancing and singing in the hope of making up for it. “Wonka” opened with a song by Timotheé Chalamet that offered a clever way to develop the setting of the movie. Once the song was over, the writers developed multiple themes that would become present in the movie as a mystery hunt for the audience to enjoy. The movie tied rather well with the music giving new information for the audience to discover. One of the greatest strengths of the movie was planning, something other musicals seem to forget.
¨Wonka¨ director Paul King, who directed the “Paddington” trilogy, designed a movie with many narratives that were developed and were not resolved until the movie’s end. The plots followed Wonka and his rise to become the world-famous chocolatier; his battle with the Chocolate Cartel, an unseen indentured servant empire, a little man, even in his culture; and a girl finding her identity. The movie tackles issues that are present in the real world but still kept the audience laughing and remembering moments from their own childhoods.
The movie’s aesthetics included a town that resembled one found throughout historic England (credit to British director Paul King). It was noticeable that Wonka had all of the vibrant colors, including his iconic purple. The Chocolate Cartel and their regime were personified through drab colors. The movie kept the audience on their toes with the most bizarre Wonka chocolate ingredients ranging from yeti hair to giraffe milk. The Computer-generated Imagery (CGI) worked well for the movie but had instances where the audience could notice that the imagery was fake but imagination and Timotheé Chalamet´s joyous acting often made up for it.
In regards to the financial and overall success, “Wonka” earned $510 million worldwide earning more than the previous champion of Roald Dahl interpretation, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” starring Johnny Depp which earned $475 million worldwide. The 1971 adaptation has earned the highest Rotten Tomato score at 92% beating both “Wonka” at 82% and Tim Burton’s version at 83%. However, “Wonka” earned the highest audience rating at 91%, beating 1971, 87%, and Tim Burton, 51%.
Towards the end of the movie, it seemed to drag like it had no direction and leaned towards ending with fanciful scenes of a Wonka Chocolate shop with customers filling the space in between the chocolate tree. It all seemed too good to be true with the audience questioning the other characters and their purpose. It was in fact, too good to be true when, all of a sudden, Wonka Chocolate had backfired, but the story still progressed to take the easy way out. Thankfully, the writer’s clever use of the tangled threads pulled the audience back in with the most unexpected twist of revenge.
The story builds again giving answers to questions and builds tension with the Chocolate Cartel closing in on Wonka and his sidekick Noodle for what looks to be the last time. However, complex writing deserves another bravo when story planning presents itself and triumphs with the innovative use of childhood innocence.
