Wonka

JediMichael

JediMichael

Master Member
Ok, so I find this kinda weird. Just the other night, I was thinking how its been 18 years since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out. My thought was, I wonder if in two more years they will remake this AGAIN. Of course it took 34 years for the remake, but Hollywood doesn't like waiting so long anymore to remake stuff now a days.
So then just now I see on YouTube this trailer, which is really more a prequel, but still weird how I was just basically thinking this.

 
In the first few seconds, I wasn't sure I wasn't watching yet another one of those AI-generated fake ads for a Wes Anderson movie. (which often have Timothee Chalamet in them, to top things off...)

I'm not sure if having a gravity-defying candy in this movie does not contradict established story in the book, which I have not read.
 
I see so few movies now a days, theater or at home, theres a very very small chance of me even seeing this at all.
The balloon part in the trailer reminds me of one of the endings from the SNES game, Chrono Trigger.

balloons.jpg

Flying.jpg
 
I've been very cynical about this from the first time I heard about it over a year ago— but watching the trailer I was sort of intrigued? Very silly, but also kind of charming? The tone (or what I could get from it in a couple minutes) reminds me of tone Roald Dahl's books had. Looks like they're going for whimsical and abstract, and it's directed by the same guy as the Paddington Bear movies so that tracks.

Don't know how to feel about it anymore, but maybe we're in for a surprise?
 
PhantomForge said:
I've been very cynical about this from the first time I heard about it over a year ago— but watching the trailer I was sort of intrigued? Very silly, but also kind of charming? The tone (or what I could get from it in a couple minutes) reminds me of tone Roald Dahl's books had. Looks like they're going for whimsical and abstract, and it's directed by the same guy as the Paddington Bear movies so that tracks.

Don't know how to feel about it anymore, but maybe we're in for a surprise?
Click to expand...
Was just checking to make sure, so its interesting that there were two books written, but no movie has ever attempted the 2nd book. Maybe its not good? In 6th grade our class read through the first, although, being so long ago, really don't remember anything from it. Never have read the 2nd one.
I don't remember if any of the books covered any prequel events, or if this new movie is entirely new story made up.
This reminds of the 2013 movie from 10 years ago, Oz the Great and Powerful.
 
Hmmm. He's sure trying but given that Chalamet has the charisma of a 2x4, I still find his casting as Willy Wonka (and apparently a younger, Gene Wilder Wonka, no less) to be a really strange choice. Otherwise I see stuff I kinda like that has my curiosity piqued. Hugh Grant as an orange, Wilder Wonka Oompa-Loompa is probably my favorite part. lol!
 
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I think Chalamet is the wrong choice for Wonka. Wonka needs to have that whimsical sort of personality that Chalamet just can't do. I can see him trying in the trailer but he lacks the lightness of touch required. Instead he just comes off as this really intense guy pretending to be fun and whimsical.
 
JediMichael said:
Was just checking to make sure, so its interesting that there were two books written, but no movie has ever attempted the 2nd book. Maybe its not good? In 6th grade our class read through the first, although, being so long ago, really don't remember anything from it. Never have read the 2nd one.
I don't remember if any of the books covered any prequel events, or if this new movie is entirely new story made up.
This reminds of the 2013 movie from 10 years ago, Oz the Great and Powerful.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The first book was one of my favorites when I was a kid, the second book was... interesting. I don't think it was bad from what I can remember, it was just fairly abstract and trippy. In a nut-shell: They go to space and visit an alien hotel, back to the factory, de-age the old people into toddlers, re-age one of them waaay too much, and more that I'm sure I don't recall. It's a very weird book and while the real reason they didn't make a second movie was because Roald Dahl veto'd it (he did not like the first one) I'm not surprised they haven't tried to make a movie from it since then. While the first one has the narrative through-line of the tour/who's going to win the prize, this one is a lot more directionless from what I remember. More of a series of stories than one big one.


Separate note, I am still intrigued but definitely agree with others that Chalamet is an odd choice. Some of his line delivery feels off, hard to put my finger on it.
 
PhantomForge said:
Ah yes, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The first book was one of my favorites when I was a kid, the second book was... interesting. I don't think it was bad from what I can remember, it was just fairly abstract and trippy. In a nut-shell: They go to space and visit an alien hotel, back to the factory, de-age the old people into toddlers, re-age one of them waaay too much, and more that I'm sure I don't recall. It's a very weird book and while the real reason they didn't make a second movie was because Roald Dahl veto'd it (he did not like the first one) I'm not surprised they haven't tried to make a movie from it since then. While the first one has the narrative through-line of the tour/who's going to win the prize, this one is a lot more directionless from what I remember. More of a series of stories than one big one.


Separate note, I am still intrigued but definitely agree with others that Chalamet is an odd choice. Some of his line delivery feels off, hard to put my finger on it.
Click to expand...
That second book sounds pretty odd and yet interesting. Maybe too weird that Hollywood thought it might not do very well....not like half their ideas these last 20 years have been much better.
 
It feels awkward and it should. Wonka was never charismatic, he was a force to be reckoned with and exceptionally awkward. Like mashing the Absent Minded Professor with the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. He is practically the posterchild for adult high functioning autism. It is just that his hyper focus is candy instead of music and math. It feels offbase in the trailer, slightly tilting and that bodes well for a true to Wonka performance.
 
I felt pretty cringed out watching the trailer…Like all aspects were trying way too hard to be “something.” Reception seems overwhelmingly positive though on social media…Which I don’t quite share.
 
"Charisma" might've been a poor choice of words but Chalamet is a weird choice to attempt to capture the quirky personality of Gene Wilder, given that this is apparently supposed to be a "Wilder Wonka" prequel, as I understand it.
 
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