Parents' Guide to

Wonka

Movie PG 2023 116 minutes
Timothee Chalamet, as Willy Wonka, sits amid a colorful landscape of flowers, candy, and small images of other characters

Common Sense Media Review

Sandie Angulo Chen By Sandie Angulo Chen , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 8+

Whimsical, sweet prequel has mild peril, fatphobic jokes.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 8+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 7+

Based on 66 parent reviews

age 7+

age 12+

Not safe for current or former foster kids

Not adoption/foster care friendly- do not recommend for young children who may be impacted by seeing a totally unrealistic story of finding one's birth parent. I don't want to take away from the amazing acting in the film, or the music, but the writers should have done their due diligence around the topic of foster care, or as they put it "damaged orphans". I saw it with my children who were in foster care, and realized I should have done more research, when, 5 minutes in, Willy was introduced by the inn keeper to the "damaged orphan" girl. For the record, this little actress is absolutely amazing and going to be a big star. But, the vast majority of kids are NOT being held hostage away from their perfectly fit parent who lives in the child's fantasy favorite place (library). I had such high hopes that Willy would continue to care for the child, but what I realize is that future Willy doesn't have a heir or a family (hence the whole reason for the future storyline and golden ticket), so the writers needed a cute little girl to partner with Willy for ratings, then had to tie a bow on her story by going the perfectly lazy "Storks" Tulip route and reunite her at the end with her mother, who looks just like her (of course, as children "should" is the message here), who is perfectly able to take her in with open arms. Absolutely infuriating to have kids 7-10 years old leave the theater with the message that their birth family was "less than". Honestly, my disdain for this part of the storyline far over-shadows anything good I have to say about the rest of the movie. Lazy writing, poor research, dumb ending.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (66 ):
Kids say (113 ):

This sweet, optimistic origin story is a colorful, earnest crowd-pleaser, albeit with a few small missteps. Director Paul King (who also co-wrote the film) brings his Paddington touch to this adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's tale. Chalamet isn't an amazing singer, but the songs are short, catchy, and family-friendly. There's a melancholy undercurrent about Wonka's motivations for making the perfect chocolate bar, but Chalamet plays the younger Wonka with a guileless, dreamy air -- not the occasionally weird, creepy vibes of Johnny Depp's or Gene Wilder's previous Wonka performances. Colman is fabulously mean as Mrs. Scrubbit, only to be topped by the three clueless, conniving chocolatiers, played by the excellent Joseph, and the comic pair of Lucas and Baynton.

But of all the supporting characters, it's plucky Noodle who makes the biggest impression. She's a put-upon orphan kid whom viewers will cheer for as she and Wonka go on their chocolate-making adventures (like a memorable excursion to milk a giraffe). Hugh Grant is hilariously cast as the first Oompa Loompa to have dealings with Wonka, stealing every scene he's in. The production design is vibrantly whimsical, particularly in the chocolate shop sequence. All of that said, King and Simon Farnaby's earnest script didn't need the fatphobic jokes about Key's character. They don't land well, and there are enough other chocoholic characters that the ever-expanding chief of police is a lazy gag. It's disappointing, but the rest of the movie demonstrates once again that King knows how to make an imaginative family film for all ages.

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