Wonka: A fun ride through an intriguingly fantastical land of magic, music and chocolates (2023)

[00:00:00] Hi, Welcome to Onmanorama Movie Podcast, Start, Action, Cut.

[00:00:18] Today we are decoding the 2023 comical film, Wonka, directed by Paul King based on the character

[00:00:27] and the fantasy world created by Roald Dahl. The story written by Paul King serves as a

[00:00:34] sort of prequel to the Roald Dahl story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was published in

[00:00:41] 1964. This movie, Wonka is detailing how young Wonka set up his chocolate factory.

[00:00:51] So today Swati is joining us to discuss the film. So Swati, the world that is the Roald Dahl world

[00:00:59] it's not entirely magical as always but there is an element of fantasy which gets blended with

[00:01:05] the reality and an imaginary world. How do you view the world created by, created in Wonka?

[00:01:15] So well Patmukumar, like you said the world of Willy Wonka, his chocolate, it's not new to us. I think

[00:01:22] we've all read about it, learnt about it and even seen his stories maybe through the famous portrayal

[00:01:28] of Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. So I think when Wonka was announced everybody was so thrilled

[00:01:34] to see what Timothy Shalem is going to do with the role and I think world-wise,

[00:01:40] the set-wise it was amazing but I felt like there was something with Timothy Shalem's performance

[00:01:46] that was just holding him back because we know Wonka as this very eccentric, very friendly

[00:01:52] out of this world person who's a magician, who's a chocolate maker, all these things.

[00:01:56] I think Timothy is a great actor but for this role I felt like he was holding himself

[00:02:01] back a bit too much which took away a little bit of fun from the movie but

[00:02:05] it's definitely a one-time watch, it's definitely a great watch even if you like all these fantasy

[00:02:11] stuff. I mean I personally do like fantasy stories so I did enjoy it to quite an extent because there

[00:02:17] were these comical elements, there were great actors such as Hugh Grant, Oliver Coleman, even

[00:02:24] small parts, even Rowan at Kitson comes in and small parts as the priest. So to see all

[00:02:29] of them together and I think they've created a wonderful world with all the graphics

[00:02:35] and everything seems just so real, that was fun but this was the I think Timothy was probably the

[00:02:41] most disappointing aspect for me because I think he's a great actor like I said, he was brilliant

[00:02:46] in Dune and all the other movies that he's done but here it felt like he was being forced to

[00:02:52] do this. I think he just wanted to get into the character but somehow maybe he was thinking

[00:02:56] too much, I don't know but it just felt a little too odd for me. As we said it's a fantasy

[00:03:02] world. I mean Roldal always creates a world that's not entirely magical but it's a world where you see

[00:03:10] its fantastical world but it's close to reality where you can imagine things that can or may be

[00:03:18] real in some way or the other. But it's so remote, there is a remote chance like the

[00:03:23] chocolate factory itself but you feel that it can be real. It will be liked more by children

[00:03:31] actually Roldal is a children's writer and this movie is also a comical and it's mostly like

[00:03:37] children's film. Now the narrative style, it takes some time to get inside the story but once we are

[00:03:44] in then there you go on a fun ride and if you are familiar with the Roldal world you will

[00:03:51] be well versed with the characters and the world they are in. So how do you find the

[00:03:57] narrative style in this movie? Well Padmumar the flow of the movie, the way it progresses I think

[00:04:03] it was all in a very normal progression. It doesn't jump to anything, it's very linear but somewhere

[00:04:12] I felt like it was a bit lagging as well I don't know why especially the portions where

[00:04:18] Vonka and his friend Noodle they go to Milk the Giraffe, all those portions where they have

[00:04:25] they sing this song and I think even though it's a musical somewhere it felt like

[00:04:32] the scenes were a little too dragging or I don't know, this might be my own personal opinion

[00:04:38] but other than that it was a fun, it was really a fun watch. The movie had an absolute big set

[00:04:46] and everything in it had to be this precision also I felt because if you are to make somebody

[00:04:54] believe that this world is real and what he's showing is real the sets also have the authenticity

[00:05:01] which I think the makers really pulled off but like I mentioned before we're very much familiar

[00:05:06] with the world of Charlie and Chocolate Factory and Willy Wonka is there all that so

[00:05:12] somewhere it felt like okay was there a need for a prequel because we are very well aware of what

[00:05:18] this person is and obviously there might be a little bit of curiosity as to how this person might

[00:05:24] be during childhood but other than that I do not feel like this movie had a lot to offer

[00:05:31] maybe for children I think it might be a fun watch but as adults when you look at the

[00:05:35] movie you might want something with more substance I feel like that was sort of missing.

[00:05:41] I mean naturally it is a children's movie once you are inside whatever they do whatever they

[00:05:49] say or show is part of that world so you are bound to enjoy everything that's happening in that world

[00:05:59] but now this movie is made as a musical and the music and the lyrics there are

[00:06:05] foot tapping numbers which will make you shake your leg or you may at least swing or sway

[00:06:11] but that's how the mood is created the background score by Joby Talbot and the songs by Neil

[00:06:20] Hannon are very much engrossed again and you feel that musical engagement throughout the movie

[00:06:30] I think it's a fantastic world where you sing dance and move along with the fun ride so

[00:06:37] what do you say about the music and the songs as well?

[00:06:42] About the music and background score and just the music in general I think it was really engaging

[00:06:48] it was really interesting it was quite simple I think they made the point so that everybody

[00:06:54] could understand what's happening and what is he singing I wouldn't say the lyrics or the lyrics

[00:07:00] had much depth to it was quite straightforward it's just him it's like making whatever you're saying

[00:07:06] into a song so I don't know if they really intended it to be that way or not but I

[00:07:13] really felt that it was just a very straightforward the lyrics were just really simple at that

[00:07:18] but I really like the initial the first song that you know Wonka sings while about the Penny song

[00:07:24] where he had 12 sovereigns and then he starts losing his money and I really really like that song

[00:07:32] and also I also enjoyed the song where Wonka and Noodle they're dancing around the city

[00:07:39] because you know this is our city it looks a bit like London it also looks a bit like Paris

[00:07:45] and the European countries for that matter I feel like the songs sort of walked us through the

[00:07:50] entire city and the world that they're in and in that aspect I think the songs were really helping

[00:07:56] the to push the story forward but other than that I wouldn't say there was the songs were

[00:08:01] exceptional or anything I think we've had better songs coming out of you know wonderful musicals

[00:08:07] before but for a children's movie like you said I think it was quite engaging and nice

[00:08:14] yeah but I don't know this may be the difference between a person who is very

[00:08:19] much a fan of Roldal and who is not yeah I feel good yeah yeah I'm a fan of Roldal so whatever

[00:08:26] world whichever world he creates I'm so much engrossed by it you are an awe of it you

[00:08:32] really like the world yes yes yes and now here I mean the character and the performance

[00:08:38] the characters and their performance he also contributed much to much to the liking much to

[00:08:44] the captivating aspect of the film like especially Timothy Shalame playing Willy Wonka as a young

[00:08:52] aspiring magician and chocolatier and he makes the character a perfect fantastical watch in this

[00:08:58] film and also Peter St. Joseph's Arthur Slugworth and then Matt Lucas as Gerald Protnose and Hugh

[00:09:08] Grant as Lofty he's an Oompa Loompa is a character in all the Willy Wonka story I mean Charlie and

[00:09:17] the Chocolate Factory stories and now who amazed me much was Olivia Corman as Mrs. Crubbit so

[00:09:27] Swati who are the characters which made you root for them in this film I think I really really

[00:09:34] liked Hugh Grant at the movie the makers would have kept his character like the fact that he's

[00:09:39] playing a significant character secret and kept him away from the marketing strategies or whatever

[00:09:44] it would have been much nicer I felt because he's such a great actor and to see him in this

[00:09:50] an adwaf like Avatar with this orange skin green hair and the way he speaks he has very

[00:09:57] you know this English touch to him and the way he speaks and I felt like you know even though

[00:10:01] I felt like he's somebody from the world of Gulliver's travels he was you know somebody from

[00:10:06] Lilliput for that matter so it's really interesting his interactions with Wonka and you know how

[00:10:11] is a man with words he's you know steadfast on what he wants and things like that so he was

[00:10:17] really the most standout character in the movie for me and of course how can I not mention

[00:10:24] Olivia Coleman as Mrs. Crubbit she was just wonderful as ever the last time I saw her was in

[00:10:31] the crowd and now to see her in a completely different avatar in a completely different

[00:10:35] form and she plays a very a commoner who tricks people into you know slavery kind of

[00:10:42] she's just very brilliant her mannerisms she's playing a negative character I think

[00:10:47] she was just brilliant I don't have any words to describe her acting prowess and coming

[00:10:52] to Timothy like I said I maybe because you're a fan of the world you found his acting quite nice

[00:11:00] I'm not saying that he was bad at the movie he was really brilliant of course he's brilliant but

[00:11:04] like I said there was some kind of you know I don't know I don't know what to call it some

[00:11:08] kind of forced feeling that was coming out of his performance and obviously I felt I

[00:11:14] wondered if he could pull off a character like this because we've seen Ryan Gosling pull off

[00:11:19] a Lala Land or a Barbie even and maybe for Timothy we were expecting a kind of role that he would just

[00:11:25] be free and you know eccentric and just let himself go but in Wonka he does he does try to

[00:11:32] but somewhere it felt like it was not hitting the mark because in our mind there is a certain

[00:11:38] Willy Wonka how he must have been he's very innocent of course I think that is one quality

[00:11:43] that I think Timothy and Willy Wonka shares they're very innocent and that is a sort of

[00:11:49] comes out really well but the eccentric part of it the fun part of it of course it is but I think

[00:11:54] like I said it was not I wouldn't say up to the mark but it was not maybe as how I expected

[00:12:00] it would be and I totally agree with what you said about Hugh Grant because he's such an excellent

[00:12:07] actor and he gives a unique form to any character he plays in movies now the only thing that I

[00:12:13] found a bit as a flow and I cannot say it as a flow as a drawback is the is that as you said earlier

[00:12:19] the film's songs they were very plain at the songs written by Neil Hannan were a bit plain and

[00:12:27] I think it was intended to keep the keep the verses close to the character of the film

[00:12:33] so that's how I read it and otherwise it's an engaging film and it's a very good movie to

[00:12:41] watch so that brings us to the end of this episode thanks for listening to start action cut produced

[00:12:47] and hosted by me Papp Agamar with technical production by ideabrew studios follow www.ownmanorama.com

[00:12:54] for more podcast on movies and be sure to come back for the next episode of start action cut

[00:13:00] that will be out on the next Monday thank you