Wonka will delight all ages and could follow Frozen to become a pop culture phenomenon

With an all-singing, all-dancing Timothee Chalamet – and a hilarious Hugh Grant – Wonka is not just a great movie, it could become a pop-culture phenomenon, writes Leigh Paatsch.

Wonka (PG)

Director: Paul King (Paddington)

Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Calah Lane

Rating: ****1/2

Simply getting started is the sweetest victory of all

File this magnificent movie musical under “much, much better than it has any right to be”.

Any doubts you justifiably might have had about Wonka – from its promise of a prequel no-one was hoping for, to the worrying mystery of whether Timothee Chalamet can actually sing – are laid to rest in a matter of minutes.

The best initial endorsement to restore your faith in the production is that it is directed by the great Paul King, whose two faultless Paddington movies rank among the finest family pictures of our time.

At this point, we should acknowledge that Wonka has a colourful history to both live up to, and also leave behind.

1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder, is an undisputed classic that just keeps getting better as the years go by.

2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, is a calamity that is probably worse than you care to remember.

Whereas those two movies had a revered Roald Dahl book with which to generate a steady stream of sweet-naturedly surreal silliness, Wonka riskily presses the rewind button and ventures a little further back in time.

Olivia Colman and Timothee Chalamet in a scene from the movie Wonka.

No, make that a lot back in time. What we are witnessing here are the formative years of a younger, sort-of saner Willy Wonka.

You know, before he became that notoriously kooky confectionery tycoon, whose factory concealed an obstacle course of punishments for greedy, indolent or insolent visitors under the age of 12.

This Willy Wonka (portrayed with genuinely infectious enthusiasm by Chalamet) is starting out at the very bottom of the lolly-making ladder, and all will agree this chipper young fellow has quite a steep climb ahead.

Not only is young Willy forced to go up against an evil cartel of churlish chocolatiers hellbent on driving him out of business before he lands his first sale, there is also the troubling matter of a significant sum of money he owes a nasty landlady named Mrs Scrubbit (Olivia Colman).

Having been tricked into signing the wrong piece of paper, Willy and his new friends must work off their debt as slaves in Mrs Scrubbit’s underground laundry.

And yet, somehow, amid all this misery and mayhem, the irrepressible Willy still schemes up a way to transport multiple lines of his magical taste sensations to an adoring general public.

Just like those aforementioned Paddington movies, the finely detailed visual design of Wonka is infinitely pleasing to the eye at all times.

Surprisingly, Chalamet proves more than simply adept at holding a note all the way through a song. Nope, he also moves like he means it, and the sheer good cheer he finds in each and every scene is a lead followed by the rest of a winning support cast.

As for Hugh Grant’s sublime casting as an Oompa Loompa, be assured this will be an additional gift each viewer will enjoy unwrapping on their own terms.

Make no mistake. Wonka is the one all-ages production that ticks every box that matters this summer.

Like a pair of other productions notably released at this same time of year in the past (Frozen and The Greatest Showman), this sure-shot of cinematic joy just might swiftly earn itself an upgrade from must-see movie to pop-cultural phenomenon.

Wonka is in cinemas now

Rocky (Zachary Levi) and Ginger (Thandie Newton) are back in Aardman Studio’s Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Picture: Aardman/Netflix

CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET (PG)

***

Streaming on Netflix from December 15

It has been over two decades since those claymation wizards at Aardman Studios (the same mob that gave the world Wallace and Gromit) made a decidedly gripping and downright hilarious escape flick set within the feathered prison of a British chicken farm.

While this belated sequel to the incomparable Chicken Run can’t come close to springing the same elements of surprise or originality as its predecessor, it still stands as a worthy addition to the Aardman honour roll.

There is a decent storytelling twist in play here, at least.

This time around, those great escapees Ginger and Rocky (now voiced by Thandie Newton and Zachary Levi) must break into a poultry-processing plant to save their rebellious daughter Molly (Bella Ramsey) from every chicken’s worst nightmare.

As always, the rustic design and herky-jerky movements of Aardman’s claymation figures enhance the tale as a whole, and endears the audience to the simple charms contained within.

Originally published as Wonka will delight all ages and could follow Frozen to become a pop culture phenomenon