Wonka Parent Guide

Willie Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) dreams of sharing his magical chocolates with the world. After seven years at sea, searching the globe for the best ingredients, he’s now back on land, with plans to open a chocolate shop at the legendary Gallerie Gourmet.

First, he needs to find a bed for the night. Ill luck brings Wonka to a laundry and inn run by the seemingly hospitable Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman). A friendly glass of gin and some fireside warmth are dearer than he realizes, and Wonka soon finds himself working off an inflated debt in the laundry alongside a motley crew of equally ill-fated souls. But Wonka has an unshakeable belief in the quality of his confections and if he can combine forces with his fellow laborers, perhaps they can free themselves from Mrs. Scrubbit and save the town from a corrupt chocolate cabal. (Seriously. They have an evil lair and an underground chocolate vault like all self-respecting villains.)

Wonka is basically a candy-coated Charles Dickens tale for kids. The character names – Scrubbit, Bleacher, Slugworth, Prodnose, Fickelgruber, Chucklesworth, Abacus Crunch – sound like they have come right out of his novels. And the scenes at Mrs. Scrubitt’s are a softened echo of the oppression suffered by Dickens’ impoverished characters. As the young orphan, Noodle (Calah Lane), tells Wonka, “The greedy beat the needy. It’s the way of the world.” You don’t get much more Dickensian than that.

Dickens wrote his famous novels as a cry for social reform but Wonka is less ambitious. It’s a story about the power of unleashing your imagination and reaching for your dreams. The plot doesn’t worry about basic elements like hard work, startup capital, or business plans – Wonka can simply clean and decorate a store (or a factory) by the power of imagination alone. He’s also fortunate to have a magical case that somehow produces chocolates. At the risk of sounding like a killjoy, I have to say that I’m not thrilled with this message. It’s great for kids to open up their imaginations but Wonka’s ability to magically produce whatever he needs doesn’t give kids a roadmap for achieving their own dreams.

The story is glossily produced, and benefits from a strong cast. I don’t think Chalamet should make musical theater his life’s goal, but he certainly inhabits the role of Wonka with dreamy-eyed whimsy. Olivia Colman is having the time of her life, wildly overacting as the greedy Mrs. Scrubbit. And Hugh Grant seems permanently, sniffily offended in his role as the orange-skinned, green-haired, vertically challenged Oompa-Loompa. There are a few too many songs, which are a bit too forgettable, and the visual effects are sometimes subpar (the factory is particularly low budget), but the movie will amuse most kids.

Some parents may be less enthused by the violence in the film. It isn’t brutal but there are scenes of firearms use, conversations between villains and a corrupt policeman about arranging a fatal “accident”, a mass poisoning, the dynamiting of a boat, and a nearly successful drowning. Onscreen violence is minor, but the level of murderous intent feels higher than normal for a kids’ movie. On the other hand, the story delivers strong messages about persistence, cooperation, resilience, and working towards a goal. It’s light, colorful, and determinedly cheerful, even in its darkest moments. Wonka might not have a lot of substance, but as a sweet treat for kids, it works.