You’re scrolling on your phone. It’s early 2021, a very dark period for film and its fans. Somehow or other, you happen across a piece of information, perhaps through a meme, or an incredulous tweet (they were still called tweets then). In any case, it said: “they’re making a Willy Wonka movie with Timothée Chalamet.” You don’t believe it, so you google it. Lo and behold, a card pops up, a purple background with “WONKA” in the iconic golden script. And below that, another card for the cast: Timothée Chalamet. You’re flabbergasted. This is a time before we had reached absolute remake apocalypse, but still, you think, “I should’ve known.” For most, this announcement was enough to write off the movie as a ridiculous concept. A soulless, cynical cash-grab capitalizing on Chalamet’s popularity and putting no consideration into actually creating a worthwhile story. I, too, fell into this camp. 

I had no intention of seeing Wonka. By the time December 2023 rolled around, I had all but forgotten about it. But while home for the holidays, my mom was taking her boyfriend’s daughter to go see it and invited me and my brother to come along. We said sure, why not? And as I walked out of the theater, I turned to my brother and said, “Is it just me, or was that a pretty fun movie?” and he furrowed his brow and replied, “Yeah, I think that was actually just, like, good.” And thus have I felt for the past year, unable to reconcile this experience with the public attitude, which seemed to remain indifferent, if not dismissive, of Wonka after it came out. For too long have I stood by in silence, afraid of being exposed for having a “wrong” opinion about this movie. But no more. I am going to state loud and proud: I liked Wonka! And I think you would too. Minor spoilers ahead.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Easily the most vocally criticized aspect of this movie is the casting of Timothée Chalamet as the iconic Willy Wonka, and I don’t think it’s completely unwarranted. He’s obviously no Gene Wilder (but then, who is?), and if you’re a fan of Depp’s performance, he’s not that either. Some argue that Chalamet is too squeaky-clean and white-bread to portray Wonka, that he woefully lacks the glint of madness that should be lurking behind the eyes of the chocolatier. But remember, this Wonka is younger than the depictions we’re used to. He hasn’t spent decades running a global chocolate business, dealing with sabotage from his competitors. Chalamet’s Wonka has got the eccentricity, but it manifests in an innocent and naïve optimism, which I think perfectly suits the story this movie is telling while leaving room for him to lose that innocence down the road. Yes, the weird, sort-of-accent thing he does with his voice sounds pretty goofy, but in a kid’s movie that’s no crime. And I get it. I, too, am wont to glance sideways at another skinny white guy seemingly getting a free ride through Hollywood. But honestly, I couldn’t dislike the guy if I tried. I’ve never seen him give a poor performance, and the man has range. But more than that, he looks like he’s having fun the whole time, and never acts like he’s above a role. Wonka is no exception: Chalamet absolutely full-sends the absent-minded whimsy and juvenile unseriousness of the film. He doesn’t try to look cool or sexy and isn’t afraid to play the fool a bit. I have to respect that.

But then there’s the other glaring issue for many skeptics: why are we making a Willy Wonka origin story in the first place? And you’d be right to criticize this. I’ve been pulling my hair out since Beauty and the Beast (2017), watching Hollywood collapse into an IP black hole where every new piece of media has to be somehow related to an existing property. It sucks. But it’s the reality of the film industry now, and Wonka is far from the worst offender. I mean, the online public dismissed the film right out of the gate, but apparently we’re still stoked for each new Godzilla or Fast and Furious installment? For me, Wonka finds some redemption by standing on its own legs as a movie. The story and most of the characters are completely original, and the film very rarely relies on references or callbacks to keep viewers invested. Still, while Wonka is not strictly a prequel to any of the existing adaptations, it does clearly harken back to 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. And this was probably the film’s biggest misstep in terms of public reception because it encouraged people to compare Wonka with the beloved classic more than they were going to anyway. I understand why they decided to put “Pure Imagination” in the trailer, but I think they would have ultimately been better off to clearly distinguish the movie as a standalone story. 

That being said, I honestly love the story of Wonka. I was surprised and impressed with how, despite the plot being completely new, it felt like it could’ve actually come right out of a Roald Dahl book. Everything felt very aesthetically appropriate, from the setting of an ambiguously magical mid-20th century English city to the cartoonishly over-the-top yet simultaneously realistic villains. Speaking of villains, what a host this movie features! Joseph Paterson kills it as the film’s main antagonist, Slugworth. He hams it up and chews the scenery to bits every scene he’s in, making for one of the most entertaining family movie villains I’ve seen in years. Another standout is Keegan-Michael Key as the Chief of Police, who delivers the perfect comedic balance between bumbling incompetence and the genuinely threatening presence of a corrupt justice system. 

Wonka doesn’t break the mold by any means; it’s an underdog story about a penniless dreamer and his scrappy group of friends taking on The Man. But there are some surprises thrown in there. I did not expect Wonka’s illiteracy subplot but thought it added an interesting dimension to his character. I definitely didn’t expect to get a commentary on the systemic corruption of the police and the church and how they work to prop up the corporate elite, rendered through an economy of chocolate. Not to mention that said church is run by a priest played by Rowan Atkinson and five hundred monks who speak only in Gregorian chant. Oh yeah, and in one of the major action sequences of the third act, Wonka and Co. release a giraffe into the church to distract Mr. Bean priest and the monks – who do indeed express their panic through more chanting – and break into a secret vault where the chocolate cartel has been embezzling their own chocolate. And all of this is treated as more or less normal. It’s amazing.

Oh right, the songs. I personally liked them. The villain song, “Sweet Tooth,” is super fun and catchy. I’ve heard some mock the big show-stopping number, “You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This” for not quite pulling off its rhymes (chocolate and pocke-let), but I find it charming. And hearing Keegan-Michael Key sing in a New York accent is probably not something you knew you needed, but you do. As for Chalamet, his singing is somehow better, worse, and exactly what I expected, all at once. Wonka’s songs definitely aren’t its greatest strength, but then again, none of the adaptations’ songs really are. I mean, the Gene Wilder version has “Pure Imagination” and the Oompa Loompa songs, sure, but it also has “Cheer Up Charlie” – bleh.

The TL;DR is that this movie really succeeds at being a fun, enjoyable watch. It’s not an artistic masterpiece, but it never sets out to be one. And while it’s not the best “fun-oriented” movie in recent years (Bullet Train takes the cake for me), the ones that top it mostly aren’t, let’s say, family movies. And that’s what really got to me after I left the theater last December. I walked away with a funny but familiar feeling, one I got from the movies I watched as a kid. No new movie had elicited that feeling in me for a long time. Even good movies, ones I like, don’t quite seem to capture that same sense of wonderment anymore. The sense that, say, your dreams are the most valuable thing in the world, and that the deliciousness of good chocolate overcomes all. So if you, too, miss that feeling you got when you sat on the couch with your family and a big bowl of popcorn to watch a movie before bedtime, Wonka just might scratch that itch for you.