 Well, it's been a few years and Hollywood has been creatively bankrupt for quite a while now, so you know what that means. It's time for another Willy Wonka movie. Cynicism aside, I did go to the film with an open mind, open heart, open arms, and wanted to be entertained. So was I? Well, let me lead in with the intro and then I'll give you my thoughts. Okay, we are just 10 seconds away. We're on pins and needles whether I like this movie or not, but please subscribe to the channel for more movie reviews, movie roasts, live streams, everything movie related would love to have you stick around. That said, I didn't mind this film. I thought it was actually pretty good. Not amazing, but pretty good. This is a movie I could watch again with my family. We just had no desire to see it because the Tim Burton one was terrible in my opinion. I love the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder, just unbeatable, unmatched as Willy Wonka. And I thought Timothy Chalamet. I know that people think he's dreamy and he's cool and whatever. I know nothing about this kid. He was fine and dune. Haven't really seen him in anything else, but he's a big star. So yeah, I should probably give him a shot. And I got to tell you his performance as Willy Wonka, damn good. I really liked it. He wasn't trying to do a wilder. He was certainly not trying to do a Johnny Depp. He's obviously younger, so he's a Willy Wonka just starting out. But he already has that whimsy, that wonder, that charm, that likability about him, that kookiness, that creativeness. Is creativeness a word? I don't know. But it's Wonka world. Anything can be a word. Anything can be a candy. Anything can be anything you want. It's where dreams become reality. Now let's get into some of the details without spoiling anything. The basic plot I'll say is this. We have a young, untested Willy Wonka who's making his way to this town that's known for its chocolates. There's these three big chocolate companies and they kind of own the town. They're like a mob, a chocolate mob, a mafia if you must. And the cops are in their pockets. They even have the church in their pockets. There's this grand conspiracy. It's all very light though and silly. It's got kind of a Matilda vibe, even though I'm not a big, not a big Matilda guy. My family loves Matilda. That's not my thing, but this kind of has that. It also has the look, a little bit of a Harry Potter film. Not near as great as Harry Potter, but it has a little bit of that look. Now this is a musical, so there is music. There's a good amount of it. I liked almost all the songs. None of them stay too long. They're all very quick and to the point, and there's some great choreography. Visually it looks really nice. It's two hours long. It is definitely family oriented. There's nothing very hardcore going on here. There's no swearing. There's no sexual stuff. It's an all ages affair. There's no real violence. There is kind of like a cheap fart joke or two, maybe. They don't go all the way with it, which is nice. It's not like an Adam Sandler level of joke, but it's enough for me to kind of shake my head, but not get upset about it. There's a few other characters in this film. One's name is Noodle, which is a stupid name. So it's a nickname of course. And Wonka says it like non-stop. 24-7 Noodle. Noodle this, Noodle that, Noodle, Noodle, Noodle. There's even a song about it or two. And that kind of gets to be a bit much. And also this character is fine. She's very lovely, very likable. The actress is great. But there's a lot of Noodle in this movie. Really should have been called Noodle and the Wonka Beginnings or Noodle and Wonka Begins or something. Noodle in the chocolate factory. Because much like Charlie, she's basically the main protagonist. It's really a joint operation here. It's half Wonka, half Noodle. Oftentimes they're canoodling together. And I just like Timothy Chalmé's character. I wanted to see more one-on-one with him. He's very interesting. I liked his backstory with his mom. I like how they go into depth about some of the ways he's making this stuff. Another thing I want to bring up, this was the biggest hang up for me. We spent a good chunk of time in this first act, pretty slowly going through the different new characters, building up things that we'll pay off later, which I appreciated. That's good storytelling. But it takes so much time in part one. And then in the second act, it's really abrupt how things play out. Obviously at some point, he's going to get a chocolate shop. Well, out of nowhere, he just has this shop open up and ready to go. There's no build to it at all. It's like, oh, we have a chocolate shop. The very next day, it's this elaborate, larger-than-life affair with moving pieces and staircases and floating clouds. And all I'm thinking is, what? How? And I know it's an imagination-driven film. It's all pageantry and it's supposed to be fantastical and whatnot. But I still have to have it grounded enough because everything up until that point was pretty grounded. Obviously, he has this crazy Willy Wonka machines and he's able to make chocolates and do all this stuff. But he's still kind of isolated into places and he has to sneak out and save up money and do all things regular people have to do. So then when it's a turn-of-the-dime event and it's just boom, all this stuff is made and presented for everyone, it just kind of lost me for a second. I was scratching my head thinking, is this a dream? Is this real right now? Did we just jump ahead like a full chapter or two in this book before playing it out? It feels like there's 20 minutes of movie that's untold on the chopping block and maybe they could have cut some of the earlier stuff and padded this out. I would have liked my rocky montage. I would have liked my ski school montage. You know, I wanted something where they're building this shop and making it happen. Outside of that, outside of those hang-ups, for the most part, this was good. I dug this movie. I have no real big complaints outside of some maybe plotting story points here and there, but for the most part, there's a lot of fun. I think kids will like it. They'll dig all the colorful foods and candies. Could have used more of it though. This is a prequel. This is before the factory. So if you're expecting another tour through the factory, you're not going to get it. This is before that, which I liked. I didn't want another rehash again. Now, will it lead to a rehash in the future? Absolutely, if this does well. But for now, I'm taking this for what it is and what it is, is a nice new story that I think families will enjoy. So I give it my approval. I thought it was good. I thought it was definitely good enough. Not amazing, but thumbs up. Okay, those are my thoughts on Wonka. Let me know if you saw it already. It's out and, you know, as of this review, it's already in theater. So let me know in the comments. Please like the video if you're watching on YouTube. If you're on Spotify or Apple podcasts, maybe you can just thumb up the podcast or if you stumbled upon it, please subscribe there. Share it around. I would appreciate growing that side of things. And if you really want to give for the holiday season, become a Patreon or YouTube join member. There's a join button right here on YouTube. There's a Patreon at Adam Does Movies. There's a $1 tier, a $5 tier. And it's just a way to support this one-man operation. I would appreciate it. All right, hopefully I see you soon.