However that’s not the whole lot. A notable proportion of the operating time is taken up by Willy being compelled to work in a laundromat by two Dickensian grotesques performed by Tom Davis and Olivia Colman (who, judging by her efficiency right here, actually ought to have been forged as Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical). There are additionally subplots by which Willy should be taught to learn, borrow a giraffe from a zoo, discover the mother and father of his streetwise sidekick Noodles (Calah Lane), and break into the villains’ lair, which occurs to be situated instantly beneath a cathedral. All these jokes are enhanced by the brightly coloured striped costumes, Heath-Robinson innovations, a whole lot of Dahl-esque puns and a collection of intelligent Berlin cabaret numbers and Broadway present tunes from Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy. There’s additionally a beneficiant serving to of syrupy sentimentality. Between this and his two Paddingtons, it is clear that King likes his movies to be extra twee than their supply novels, so anybody with no critical candy tooth may really feel queasy earlier than the tip.
So total, Wonka appears to be going all out to be the very best household leisure in cinemas this Christmas. All the pieces matches in there, together with the sink. However what it does not have is one robust, gripping plot to construct momentum and lift the guts price. It does not persuade you that Willy’s backstory ever wanted to be advised. Mixing collectively bits of Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, Oliver Twist and extra, it seems to be much less like a finely crafted chocolate cake than a kind of choice packing containers of varied model title chocolate bars, all wrapped in garish plastic packaging. Because it drifts forwards and backwards between the laundromat and the city sq., between the current and loopy flashbacks to the previous, it does not fairly get going. And it leaves you ready for a second that can depart you gasping or laughing out loud, like a lot of Paddington 2 did. Chalamet, as proficient as he’s, is neither an excellent singer nor an excellent comic, and he has failed to show Willy into something apart from a goofball. It is a reduction when Hugh Grant exhibits up as a snooty, orange-faced Oompa-Loompa named Lofty, however beware: it is a cameo look with only a few scenes not within the trailer.
