By John Corrado

★★★ (out of 4)

When Paul King stepped away from directing the third Paddington movie to direct a Willy Wonka origin story, after helming the critically acclaimed first two movies about the bear from Peru, it seemed like a curious move.

But the moral of Wonka is that we never should have doubted the director of the Paddington movies to deliver delightful family entertainment, because this feel-good musical prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of the nicest surprises of 2023.

Timothée Chalamet stars in the film, offering his own take on Willy Wonka in a tale that opens with the eccentric chocolatier as a wide-eyed dreamer, arriving on the shores of London with twelve silver sovereigns in his pocket, a song in his heart, and a “hatful of dreams.”

Willy’s dream is to open a chocolate factory to sell his wild and wondrous creations at the Galeries Gourmet. But the young Wonka soon realizes that the city’s supply is controlled by an all-powerful chocolate cartel made up of three candy makers; Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Gerald Prodnose (Matt Lucas) and Felix Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton).

When Wonka gets in trouble with the chief of police (Keegan-Michael Key) for selling chocolate without a shop, he teams up with an orphaned girl who goes by the name Noodle (Calah Lane) to help him go into business. Noodle is part of a ragtag group of vagabonds who are all stuck working at a rundown boardinghouse, until they pay off their debts to the crooked owner Mrs. Scrubitt (Olivia Colman).

Chalamet is following in the footsteps of both Gene Wilder in the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s 2005 remake. If Chalamet’s take on the character is not as cynical as Wilder’s darker variation, or as weird as Depp’s Michael Jackson-inspired iteration, he is able to put his own genial spin on the role. He plays him more as a whimsical dreamer who perhaps hasn’t fully cracked yet, and the role also allows Chalamet to showcase his talents as a song and dance man, going back to his roots as a high school theatre kid (which can be seen on YouTube).

Lane delivers a breakout performance in her first big film role as Wonka’s young protege Noodle, who serves as a precursor to Charlie Bucket. The cast is rounded out by Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa named Lofty, a knee-high little orange man who keeps sneaking in at night to steal Willy’s chocolate (the Oompa Loompa’s here are much smaller than in either of the previous movie adaptations, but closer to the book’s description). Rowan Atkinson also has a small, amusing role as a chocoholic priest.

Even if the marketing tried to hide this fact so as not to scare away generally musical-averse audiences, Wonka is a classic musical through and through, with several big production numbers. The new songs written by Neil Hannon are good, with the standouts being “For a Moment” and “A World of Your Own.” However, it’s the familiar notes of “Pure Imagination” worked in throughout Joby Talbot’s score that tug at the heartstrings the most.

Similar to the Paddington movies (even if it’s not quite in the same league as those instant classics), Wonka is pleasantly surprising for how well it all works. While not a literal adaptation, King’s Wonka captures the spirit of Roald Dahl’s original book in both its humour and imagination. If there is some obvious CGI embellishment, this is a bright and colourful world, with King staging some magical and fantastical moments, such as a balloon flight over the city. It’s really quite charming overall.

Wonka is now playing exclusively in theatres.