Oompa loompa doompety do, film critics have some thoughts for you. It’s time to listen up and quiet down, because the first reactions to Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet as a younger Willy Wonka, are here. A through-line in early reviews is that this version of the chocolatier is sweeter and less weird than previous Roald Dahl adaptations. “It never reaches the singularly compelling strangeness of the source material, but it lands somewhere close enough to be mostly satisfying,†Vulture’s Alison Willmore wrote. Still, not everyone’s sugar tolerance is the same — The Hollywood Reporter described the movie from Paddington director Paul King as “sickly sweet and hopelessly twee,†while the Los Angeles Times praised it as “a playful, heart-tugging take on a beloved character that’s smarter than it lets on.†Below, here’s what critics are saying about Wonka so far.
“Chocolate is also, courtesy of Willy’s internationally sourced ingredients, capable of making people float, feel hope, and break into Broadway numbers, and it is, in a squishier way, a vehicle for nostalgia. The weirder its treatment of the treat becomes, the better the movie is, cutting through the script’s more potentially sentimental tendencies. It never reaches the singularly compelling strangeness of the source material, but it lands somewhere close enough to be mostly satisfying.†—Alison Willmore, Vulture
“You’re thankful that King injects a sense of kindness, a kookiness, and the care to make this something besides leftover Dahl parts. Yet you wish that Chalamet was bringing something, anything, to what too often feels like character karaoke. He’s not bad, just blank. Which is enough to make you feel like Wonka is over long before it’s actually over. Let’s just say the gobstopping is anything but everlasting here.†—David Fear, Rolling Stone
“The movie is overly busy, as these kinds of eager-to-please diversions tend to be, and at two hours it overstays its welcome.†—Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“All of this is solidly enjoyable, as is the film’s lavish backlot Victorian look, and Wonka, with any luck, will become the holiday hit that theater owners are now desperate for. Yet I’d wager that it might have been an even bigger hit had it been a little less sanded off for children, and had it tapped more into the Roald Dahlness of it all (which was there in last year’s lively adaptation of Dahl’s Matilda).†—Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“Unfortunately, the filmmakers’ incuriosity about Willy is matched by their incuriosity about the star’s range and depth.†—Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“Even if it’s plausible that the young Wonka might not have developed the arrogant authoritarian side of the character as conceived by Dahl, Willy feels neutered here, stripped of any edge that might have made him interesting. His magical ability to make chocolates levitate or to turn a cavernous, dilapidated retail space into a cornucopia of wonders just seem like the kind of standard-issue CG doodling you see in TV commercials. Young audiences may well be enchanted, but I’m sad to report I found the whole confection sickly sweet and hopelessly twee.†—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
“Imagination, the creative spark in all its wonder and peril, is what made Wonka and his chocolate special. Wonka takes a shallower tack, insisting that having a dream is enough, regardless of its substance.†—Joshua Rivera, Polygon
“There may have been skepticism about Wonka, but there’s no need to worry all that much, especially not about Chalamet, who gives himself over fully to the wonderment and vocal demands of the role. See it and enjoy it for what it is: a playful, heart-tugging take on a beloved character that’s smarter than it lets on.†—Katie Walsh, The Los Angeles Times
“In addition to committing to its sense of fun, Wonka reminds us that life is made sweetest by the people we share it with. If that’s not particularly novel, it’s still as comforting and scrumptious a notion as a chocolate bar.â€
—Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly
“Overall, then, Wonka seems to be straining every sinew to be the best possible family entertainment at cinemas this Christmas. It throws in everything, kitchen sink included. But what it doesn’t have is one strong, gripping plot to build momentum and raise the pulse rate. It doesn’t convince you that Willy’s back story ever needed to be told.†—Nicholas Barber, BBC
“Brassier with its music than its story, Wonka works as a satisfying, harmless confection.†—Brian Truitt, USA Today