With December’s release of Wonka, starring Timothee Chalamet, there are now three movies starring everyone’s favorite chocolate maker, Willy Wonka. Naturally, everyone has opinions on the movies, and these are mine.
Willy Wonka has always been a part of my childhood, from reading the Roald Dahl book as a class, to watching the movies at sleepovers. So, from worst to best, this is my ranking of the movies starring the man who showed us paradise.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka
Now this movie isn’t bad, but there are a few reasons why it comes last on my list. First being the lack of cohesiveness in the music. The attempt for musical diversity was a good idea, but the vibes of each song did not fit the character they were for, and overall made the movie feel slightly disjointed.
Secondly, the attempt to bring some backstory to why Wonka is the way he is. While the intention was to feel bad for Wonka’s childhood, I don’t think that was accomplished. The backstory feels removed from Wonka the adult.
Finally, the movie lacks whimsy! This is one of the defining traits of Willy Wonka, a little scary, a little creepy, a lot weird and whimsical! What he does makes no sense to anyone but himself, and we love him for it.
Wonka starring Timothee Chalamet as Willy Wonka
I saw this movie twice in the theater, and it took the second time for me to like it. On first impression I felt it didn’t fit in with my view of who Willy Wonka is. But, upon second viewing, I was able to appreciate the subtle whimsy and weirdness Timothee brought to the character.
The songs were cute and catchy (Do You Have a Sweet Tooth still constantly plays on repeat in my mind) and the plot felt like a much much better backstory of how Willy Wonka came to be.
In my opinion, the only thing this movie lacked was the creepiness factor. This Wonka would never invite 5 children into his factory and passively watch as they were injured by his chocolate.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
Firstly, Gene Wilder will always be my Willy Wonka, for life.
If you know me even a little bit, you know this is my favourite movie, completely unironically.
This is the best Willy Wonka for so many reasons. First, the songs. It starts off with “The Candyman”, setting the movie up with a light feeling so that the later events of the movie are completely unpredictable.
While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was too creepy, and Wonka was not creepy enough, Willy Wonka combines both creepy and whimsy in a way that always keeps you guessing!