‘Wonka’ 4K Ultra HD movie review

Director Paul King’s musical fantasy paying cinematic homage to the seminal work of children’s book author Roald Dahl moves from a successful box office run to home theaters in Wonka (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated PG, 116 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $39.98).

I’ll first state my bias and rabid allegiance to the 1971 musical “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” starring the one and only Gene Wilder as the true Willy Wonka personified.

Timothée Chalamet now comes along to take the mantle in a prequel, delving into the origin of the legend and his building of a chocolate empire.

The story follows a teenage Wonka as he unintentionally becomes an indentured servant at a boarding house launderette and then challenges the corrupt trio of confectioners called the Chocolate Cartel with the introduction of his first tasty confection, the Hoverchoc, which leaves eaters floating with delight.

He uses his portable chocolate laboratory to make treats, sneaks out to covertly sell directly to city residents with help from boarding house worker Noodle (Calah Lane) and her cohorts, and eventually gets his goodies to the Galeries Gourmet market by opening a store.

However, the cartel strikes back to attempt to squelch the budding entrepreneur’s dream. He will need his new pals to pull off a heist at the enemy’s secret headquarters to succeed.

An ensemble cast including Keegan-Michael Key as a corrupt police chief with a sweet tooth, Rowan Atkinson as an immoral chocolate addict cleric and Olivia Colman as the boarding house owner helps sell the tale, but the star of the film is Hugh Grant.

Digitized as an orange, pint-sized Oompa Loompa with green hair, Mr. Grant causes mayhem and sings the Oompas’ signature song multiple times. Even after a hilarious performance, the veteran actor must have asked himself, “What have I done to deserve this?”

The film is sweetened with whimsy and sprinkled with adventure, but there are a few points of contention.

First, we needed an edgier Wonka. Wilder always had a devilish twinkle in his eye as he arguably tortured the bad out of some bratty kids, and Johnny Depp and Tim Burton gave Wonka a psychotic bent that went a bit too far. Mr. Chalamet plays an innovative and hopeful lad, full of spirit and naïveté while being fed to business sharks.

Second, the songs do not live up to the 1971 movie. In fact, the new original numbers are all forgettable, with not a “Candy Man” among them — except when Wonka sings at the end of the film “Pure Imagination,” which of course was written for the original movie. That’s one heck of a song.

“Wonka” offers plenty of serviceable entertainment for the kiddies in the form of sugar-coated fun but falls flat as a musical and might find adults dozing off and dreaming about Wilder’s iconic portrayal.

4K in action: Viewers often get a film as candy-colored as the world being represented with a man permanently looking through rose, purple and pink glasses. In fact, the screen actually has a purplish filter during the first major musical number.  

The main city often looks like a Universal Studios’ theme park filled with period dressed actors, buildings often ornate and golden and highlighted by Wonka’s store with multi towers of colorful candy, cotton candy clouds and a rainbow of gum drops.

The only visual mooting creeps in during the oppressive interior boarding house scenes.

Mr. King occasionally goes off a live action script with moments such as the presentation of an animated chalk drawing of Noodle’s dream.

However, by far, most visually astounding and nostalgic is the ending in which the magical Wonka factory come to vivid life complete with the famed river of chocolate.

Best extras: A surprising lack of bonus content greets fans, relegated to five featurettes (roughly 45 minutes) covering creating the film, the music, the lavish production design, costumer design and the creation of thousands of real candy treats for the cast as discussed and demonstrated by the lead chocolatier Gabriella Cugno.