If you’re looking for a gripping, emotional epic, you’re probably not getting it with this film. The first trailer for Wonka released today, and the film looks as ridiculous, stupid, and lighthearted as you could have imagined…and that might actually work.
I don’t really know why this movie is getting made, but here we are.
Wonka, the prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and/or (I’m not sure what Willy Wonka is getting depicted in this movie) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), just had its first trailer release today, and the movie appears to be a lighthearted, silly, insane, and completely stupid tale of the backstory of Willy Wonka and his chocolate-making ways. And, to be honest, that might just work if the right care is put into this film.
As I said in the intro, if you’re into serious, emotional, gripping dramas/stories with a tiny grain of humor on the side (if even that), then this is not going to be a film you will enjoy.
I don’t know whether Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp’s version of Willy Wonka is getting adapted, but any tale about the backstory of the wacky chocolate maker is going to come with a lot of outlandish set designs, acting, characters, and plots as the whole story of Willy Wonka is ridiculous (in a fun way) in the first place.
If I had to guess, this version seems to be adapting Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka as Timothee Chalamet, the actor playing Wonka, was far more aloof, strange, odd, and timidly outgoing as Johnny Depp was in the role. But it could also be Wilder’s Wonka as both versions were strange and odd…as you’d expect as guy like Willy Wonka to be.
Nevertheless, the premise of this prequel is obviously Willy Wonka getting his start in the chocolate-making world as he must face the evil powers of the “Chocolate Cartel” and try to make the world of his fantastical Victorian-era England a better place for the young boys and girls. Essentially, it’s a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory setting and story repackaged as a Wonka POV prequel tale.
Now, normally I’d be extremely nervous that a film like this one would end up in a best-case scenario as a boring, lifeless, and completely useless addition to the Willy Wonka franchise, and in a worst-case it would be like a Disney live action film. Yeah, not a very high bar…until I saw that the writer/director of Paddington, Paul King, and one of the Harry Potter producers, David Heyman, was behind this film.
King’s Paddington Bear films are widely adored and loved by both critics and fans alike as both films currently have at least a 93% critical score rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while both films have at least an 80% approval rating from the audiences.
And, we all know what smashing successes the seven Harry Potter films were as they not only helped J.K. Rowling become a billionaire and add over $8B into Warner Bros. bank account, but it also inspired Warner Bros. to build an entire Harry Potter theme park and an HBO T.V. series remake of the films. Oh, and all of those billions were from box offices ranging from 2001-11.
Can you imagine how much money these films would make if they came out today? They’d very well might break $20B.
Anyways, I doubt that King and Heyman, two very capable and talented filmmakers, will oversee this film into an utter crapshow, so there’s a glimmer of hope they’ll be able to harness the wackiness and goofiness of Wonka into a compelling tale as the 1971 film managed.
(Warner Bros. Discovery-Wonka-Official Trailer)
But I don’t trust anything coming out of Hollywood these days, so we’ll have to wait and see if this film will crash and burn or our own golden ticket.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Discovery) (WONKA | Official Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Discovery) (WONKA | Official Trailer – YouTube)
