On June 30, 1971, the first “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, was released. Thirty-four years later, on July 15, 2005, the second “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, starring Johnny Depp as Wonka was released. Eighteen years later, on July 11, the trailer confirming the new addition to the film series, “Wonka”, was released.

When I first found out about this movie, I was very excited and couldn’t wait to see it. Especially when the trailer confirmed that this film would be about Willy Wonka’s origin story and not just another remake.

The film starts off with Willy Wonka arriving in a new city after finishing his years out at sea, searching for the right ingredients for his chocolates. After making a bad deal with a couple of hustlers, Wonka finds himself in a sticky situation that requires a large amount of money to gain back his freedom. After gaining massive attention from the public, Wonka quickly finds his common enemies, called the Chocolate Cartel, will do whatever it takes to keep Wonka out of the chocolate business. But in the end, after all their failed attempts, Wonka comes out victorious and achieves his dream of becoming the best chocolate maker in the world.

I can honestly say that I really enjoyed this film. It was entertaining, colorful, and still had that wacky Willy Wonka feel to it. 

But what honestly made this movie so unique is that it was made into a musical. I can say that they did a very good job with this. I am a big fan of musical theater, so I was very excited to listen to the new songs this movie had to offer, especially given the fact that there is already a Broadway musical called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

Joey Talbolt and Neil Hannon, the song writers, created songs that were well written and catchy. Honestly, I enjoyed listening to them, and the best part about the soundtrack is that, on top of the newest originals, the most popular songs like “Pure Imagination” and “Oompa Loompa” were still included. 

The only thing I will say about the film is that I wish there was more choreography to go with the music. The dances that go along with the songs are what adds to the entertainment. It’s what grabs the audience’s attention and makes the film more exciting. 

The casting choice was very unique as well. When I watched the trailer, I was very surprised when I found out Timothee Chalamet was going to play Willy Wonka especially given his roles in past films. I have seen a fair share of Chalamet’s films and when I watched “Wonka” for the first time, I could definitely see the difference in acting techniques used. In other films like “The King” or “Dune”, Chalamet is often seen as serious and edgy with lots of layers that go into the character. But in this film, he’s more animated and silly which matches the character perfectly.

But Chalamet wasn’t the only one who did a good job playing their character. Calah Lane who plays Noodle had a great performance as well. She was a perfect fit for the role, not only matching Noodle’s childish behavior, but the character’s sarcastic side as well. She also did a very good job when it came to the singing.

I will also say that Chalamet did a surprisingly good job when it came to singing, too. It’s actually rather common for high class actors who are better at acting than singing to have auto tune to make their voice sound pleasant, but Chalamet didn’t. His voice actually sounded natural and which I very much appreciated.

Overall, the film was really good and I had a good time watching it. The songs were fun to listen to and I am very pleased with what I saw.