Wonka has finally arrived after much teasing and speculating about what the movie would entail and how Timothee Chalamet would handle the role. The movie encompasses Willy Wonka’s journey to opening his first chocolate shop: his challenges, missteps, friends along the way, and even how he came in contact with the wonderful Oompa Loompas. The movie is filled with magical candies, out of this world plot lines, villainous chocolatiers, and even a fat Keegan Michael-Key. For all of this mysticism and strangeness, there were a lot of parts that just didn’t work, to counter-act the points that worked very well. Let’s break it down.

Here’s what I liked:

The Songs –  I walked into this knowing it was a musical but I wasn’t exactly sure how much singing that would entail. I am not the biggest fan of musicals, but I have to admit, I liked most of the numbers in this movie. They were catchy, fun, and didn’t take themselves too seriously. My favorite was without a doubt the Keegan Michael Key song where he becomes corrupt in exchange for 1800 chocolates.

Keegan Michael Key – The former Key and Peele star, who plays a corrupt cop, was the absolute bright point in this movie. He kept the movie funny, light, and didn’t make it too much of a musical. His witty jabs made it ok for us to laugh with and at him, and he took a lot of pressure off Timothee Chalamet to hold this whole thing together. In my opinion, he was the real star of this movie.

Hugh Grant as the Oompa Loompa – Hugh was fantastic in this movie as well, if not for Keegan, he would receive the MVP award for this movie. It was hilarious to see a well-known actor on a little orange man’s body, his song was hilarious, and his demeanor and willingness to destroy Wonka was always funny and never tired. The origin story of the Loompas with Wonka was very refreshing and nuanced as well, it worked great.

While watching, it felt as if all the side characters were somewhat one dimensional, but then I put my thinking cap on and looked back to the old movies. Violet – competitive, Mike Teevee –obsessed and controlled, Veruca – spoiled, Augustus – greedy/ glutton, Charlie – conscientious/ well-mannered. In the same way, the characters that Wonka finds in the washing center under the hotel all have one trait. One person is obsessed with phones (Teevee), one is obsessed with money and accounting (Veruca), one is a comedian and needs people’s attention (Violet), A former plumber on the fatter side (Gloop – kind of a stretch but the chocolate river did seem like a clogged toilet, all I’m saying), then we have Noodle – the perfect representation of Charlie. She’s sweet helpful and works well with Wonka. This relationship gives us a great correlation into why Wonka would do the Golden ticket and is a good callback to the old movies.

Now for all of that good, there was a lot that didn’t work as well.

     Music – I pointed out that the music was good, but there’s only so much I can take before it starts distracting from the movie. This movie walked a very thin line. It wasn’t Les Miserables, but it had enough music to make me bored at some parts

     Timothee as Wonka- Ok, so he grows on you throughout the movie, but for the first 15 minutes I was cringing at the thought of the desecration of my beloved Willy Wonka. I started wondering how Kylie Jenner could have sex with this guy, why does he look 12? Whole lot of questions, but as the movie went on and it started to focus on other characters and less on Wonka, he started becoming better at displaying Wonka. He wasn’t as mad or loopy as the other movies but I think that’s an important piece of the old Wonka. He wasn’t always crazy and wacky, he devolved into that as his businesses failed and he became more obsessed with his chocolate and people stealing his recipes. Still, Chalamet didn’t quite do it for me, at times it was tough to watch.

     His mom’s chocolate bar – It was a very sweet, sweet notion that Willy would keep this chocolate bar his mom gave him before she died for all these years, just waiting for the appropriate time to eat it, but there’s so many logistical things wrong with it. First, Willy waited all year for this chocolate bar when he was a kid, he didn’t want to eat it right away? He just knew his mom was going to die so he held onto it? When she gave it to him, she wasn’t even sick yet. Then second, you’re telling me this chocolate bar survived for all those years without melting or deforming even a little bit? When he pulls it out at the end it is in perfect shape, no melting, no chips, nothing. It was super farfetched the whole plot.

     This is the big one for me – Why in the hell was Willy illiterate? I almost burst out with laughter in the theater when I heard that. I guess it was to try to create a larger bond with Noodle for her being his teacher, but honestly it was just rude to the Wonka character. It wasn’t wonky or crazy, just unnecessary and honestly shouldn’t have been allowed by the director to do this to a character he didn’t create.

Now for some awards:

The Bret Hart Sharpshooter (Given to the guy with not a lot of screen time but great parts) –  gotta go Keegan Michael Key. Wouldn’t be mad at Hugh Grant getting the nod but I liked Key the most.

The Astros Scene Stealing award – (best scene of the movie) – Has to be when Willy catches the Oompa Loompa and we get to see the orange man and why he steals from him (plus a song).

The Mike Myers character actor award – Hugh Grant plays an awesome Oompa with great personality.

The best song award – Keegan Michael Key’s deal song.

Rating – 7.5/10. It’s a movie that can keep anyone entertained. Sure, there’s some flaws and some things that might piss some of the older audiences off, but it was an interesting watch, a fresh take on a classic with new plots and spins done to a beloved character.