- Content: 
Why WONKA Director ‘Let Go’ of PADDINGTON Movies: ‘Right Thing to Do’
By Movieguide® Contributor
WONKA director Paul King recently opened up about why he decided to stop working on his PADDINGTON movies to focus on WONKA.
“It was the right thing to do,” King told The Hollywood Reporter. “And because there’s so much PADDINGTON source material, you could make 50 PADDINGTON movies. I’d be a hundred years old and still doing PADDINGTON. If you could only make two or three films [out of the source material], then it might’ve been different. But by the end of the second film, I was really pleased with where we’d left him. It was time to let go and give somebody else a shot.”
WONKA, set to come to theaters this Friday, is a prequel to the beloved 1971 movie WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.
“Based on the extraordinary character at the center of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book and one of the best-selling children’s books of all time, WONKA tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today,” the WONKA website states.
Timothée Chalamet, who plays the titular character, described his movie as a “companion piece” to the 1971 film.
“This is sort of how Willy Wonka would have been before he’s sort of this mysterious, crazed figure in the chocolate factory,” he said. “This is a young, hopeful, ambitious, head-full-of-dreams Willy Wonka who won’t take no for an answer.”
King added that, although the young Wonka is much different than the Gene Wilder classic, he kept some elements to tie the two characters together.
“There’s loads of little gestures that we use. Willy says, ‘Scratch that, reverse it,’ which is a line that Gene Wilder has in the [1971] movie. Because it’s such a visual performance that Gene Wilder gives with the cane and suddenly hitting a banister when he’s walking down the steps at the beginning of ‘Pure Imagination,’ we use all of that and lean into it,” he shared.
Part of Movieguide®’s review for WONKA reads:
WONKA is a colorful fantasy that tells how Willy became Willy Wonka. Before she dies, Willy’s mother tells him that every good thing started with a dream. Willy goes to the big city to sell his chocolate, which was inspired by his mother. However, three large chocolate makers try stop anc even kill Willy. Also, an evil landlady takes his money and forces him into servitude. Also, there’s this little orange man with green hair named Oompa Loompa who demands Willy repay his tribe for the three cocoa beans Willy took.
WONKA is a very fun, funny movie, one of the most entertaining movies of the year. There are many fun and memorable songs throughout the movie, which makes it a delight to watch. WONKA shows good triumphing over evil through the magic of joy and great dreams. It also supports the little entrepreneur starting his own little business in the face of a government-sanctioned cartel. However, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older pre-teens because the cartel has bribed the police and a cathedral and its clerics with chocolate they can’t resist.
- Content: +4Share:
- Content: +4