Courtesy of Warner Bros.

In 1971, a movie featuring a dream-like to reality workshop was released: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” In the movie, the owner of an infamous chocolate factory, known as Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder), brings hope to a poverty-filled town. After the factory has been shut down for years and was presumed to never open again, he puts five golden tickets into chocolate bars, inviting the winners of the golden tickets to visit the factory.

The new 2023 movie “Wonka,” featuring Timothée Chalamet as Mr. Wonka, goes through how this idea developed from when he was young. When Willy Wonka was younger, his mom would take cocoa beans from her work in order to make chocolate each year for his birthday. This was a highlight of his younger years, and develops the connection he has to his mother. They talked about the legacy he would leave when he opened a chocolate factory, and how she would be right next to him no matter what. After she sadly passes away, he’s determined to make his dream come true, and he eventually opens the factory for her.

Although the concept of the movie and storyline is very interesting, the movie did not live up to its potential. In my opinion, it was similar to the “Barbie” movie that was recently released. Both of them feature popular actors and are surrounded by lots of marketing, but are not what was expected. These movies are both well-directed and would be great family movies to watch with younger kids, but do not target people in the teenage category.

The “Wonka” movie features a fair amount of singing and has a musical aspect to it, unlike the first movie. I am not somebody who loves musicals, so I did not find this aspect of the movie as entertaining.

Timothée Chalamet, the main character of Mr. Wonka, played a very different role than he has in previous movies such as “Call Me By Your Name” (2017) and “Dune” (2021), where he played more in-depth characters in movies with deeper storylines. Other actors from the movie include people such as Gustave Die and Olivia Colman, playing the parts of main side characters, and are similar to him in this way.

Overall, this movie would be entertaining to people who enjoy “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” as well as to those looking for an enjoyable watch with a musical aspect, or those who have younger children. Other than that audience, this movie is not appealing to anybody looking for something such as a thriller or for a similar movie to the first one.