“Wonka” was released to the US on December 15, 2023, by Warner Bros. It is definitely an interesting movie. Aside from a couple of fart jokes and a questionable timeline, I believe that it is one of the better movies to come out in the last six months.
The movie is a musical, and first song in, it’s already setting the tone to be a good one (take notes, “Wish.”) The instrumental and vocals are close to perfect, with the lyrics adding the 82,000 cherries on top of the 800-square-foot top layer of the cake that is this movie.
I love this movie; the casting, writing, singing, and especially the visuals are all done incredibly well. However, there are a couple of problems the movie has. Starting small, the fart jokes feel a bit forced, and as if they are only thrown in there to keep small children entertained with the movie, even with the movie having many adult themed jokes in it.
Another complaint I have is that a couple of scenes feel rushed or not thought out fully, especially the end of Noodle’s story. I feel like this scene could have been more emotional and acted better, but I guess the audience got something that, albeit one of Calah Laine’s weakest scenes, was still good as a finished arc.
Touching back on the lore of the movie, it is a deep dive into the beginnings of Wonka as a person and a brand. The timeline with this and the other movies isn’t very solid, but do viewers really need a timeline in a story about a chocolate maker and little orange men working together to make the world’s greatest chocolate?
All in all, I love this movie. It will be going in my personal Top 10 movies of all time, and gets a solid 9.5/10 from me.