'Wonka' review: Hugh Grant is singlehandedly worth the price of admission

By Peter Travers

I hold this truth to be self-evident: No one will ever play the bright comic exterior and dark soul of Willy Wonka like Gene Wilder. So what to make of "Wonka," the prequel to Wilder's 1971 "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," now in theaters starring Timothée Chalamet?

The good news is that Chalamet, just nominated for a Golden Globe as best actor in a musical or comedy, is a pleasant surprise, finding the sweet nature of the young magician and chocolate maker. Darkness? Not so much. Yet Chalamet uses his thin but expressive voice to put over the new songs by Neil Hannon, the frontman for the Brit pop band The Divine Comedy.

Hannon can't match the tasty hits, such as "The Candy Man," that Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse composed for the Wilder film. Bad move, I'm afraid, to put in a reprise of their dreamy "Pure Imagination" since borrowed inspiration only underlines what's not inspired this time.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Timothee Chalamet, as Willy Wonka, in a scene from "Wonka."

Still, it's the holidays, and audiences will likely lap up this origin story dished out by Paul King, the director who made two "Paddington" films that are still the gold standard for wicked, witty family fun. "Wonka" is not on that level, but it's hard to resist its buoyant high spirits.

Nearly 20 years ago, Johnny Depp played Wonka for director Tim Burton as a kind of ghostly Michael Jackson trying to catch the creepy twists in Roald Dahl's 1964 novel. Far from the tormented recluse created by Dahl, Chalamet's Wonka is relatively carefree, except for his sorrow over his late mum, played in flashbacks by the reliably sublime Sally Hawkins.

We meet Wonka returned from the seven seas to relocate in a city very much like London to judge from the Cockney accents. His goal is to open a candy shop with the magic ingredients hidden in his hat full of dreams. One bite and you'll literally be flying.

Trouble comes for Wonka from the candy cartel, run by a trio of chocolatiers -- Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Prodnose (Matt Lucas) and Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton) -- who don't want competition, especially from a rival who wants to sell his treats at affordable prices. Yikes!

Jaap Buittendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures

Timothee Chalamet, as Willy Wonka, in a scene from "Wonka."

A corrupt police chief (Keegan-Michael Key) tricks Wonka into servitude in an underground laundry owned by the conniving Mrs. Scrubbit (Oscar winner Olivia Colman hamming it hilariously to the hilt) and her henchman Bleacher (Tom Davis). Fellow prisoners include former accountant Abacus Crunch (Jim Carter), telephone operator Lottie Bell (Rakhee Thakrar), plumber Piper Benz (Natasha Rothwell) and comedian Larry Chucklesworth (Rich Fulcher).

Too many characters? It's a pileup. Hint: just keep your eye on young Noodle (newcomer Calah Lane is delightful), a fellow victim of Mrs. Scrubbit, who teams up with Wonka to plan a great escape. Do they make it? There'd be no movie if they didn't.

There isn't much of a movie anyway, though King throws everything he can at the screen -- chases, breakouts, candy varieties, more songs and more characters who fail to make an impression. The exception is Hugh Grant, singlehandedly worth the price of admission as an orange-skinned, green-haired Oompa Loompa with his own designs on Wonka's chocolate.

"Wonka" is at its best when it floats above the heavy plot machinery and settles in as wispy, whimsical fun. After recently portraying a young cannibal in the grisly "Bones and All," Chalamet is clearly having a blast playing on a kiddie ride. You will too if you if you forget your troubles and join Wonka in the exhilarating act of inventing himself.