Wonka with Timothée Chalamet: the review by Paolo Mereghetti

WONKA
Type: gastronomic-educational tale
Direction: Paul King. With Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Olivia Colman, Jim Carter, Hugh Grant, Tom Davis, Paterson Joseph, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan-Michael Key, Rakhee Thakrar, Rich Fulcher

To bring the cinema back to life character invented by Roald Dahl in The Chocolate Factory (and already played in the past by Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp), the director of Paddington Paul King and writer-actor Simon Farnaby they imagined a prequel that explains how Willy Wonka becomes that treat maker which no one can resist (and also tell where the intriguing dwarf Oompa – Loompa comes from, to whom Hugh Grant offers face and moves).

Mixing Dickensian atmospheres and Brechtian ambitions (the three bad chocolate makers – Slugworth, Fickekburger and Prodnose – look like they came out of The Threepenny Opera), ballets and songs, mockery and a pinch of irreverence (of which the Reverend Julius, with the face of the irresistible Mister Bean/Rowan Atkinson, pays the price), the film transforms the otherwise ambiguous Timothée Chalamet into a champion of goodness and sweetnessdetermined not to disappoint the teachings of his beloved pastry chef mother.

And the result is a perfect Christmas talewhere the disturbing evils of Roald Dahl are expunged in favor of child-friendly fun. For those who want to dream with a Christmas fairy tale.

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