Although the “Wonka” musical movie captures a different aspect of Willy Wonka’s life, it is equally as whimsical and magical as the original movie, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and its successor, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

     In the original movie, the main focus is on the children who win the golden tickets and take their adventure through the factory. In the musical, the story focuses on Willy Wonka’s underground chocolate business, his competition, his laundromat imprisonment and his earlier life.

     I appreciate how in “Wonka” he does not read the fine print of a contract, resulting in his imprisonment in the laundromat, while in the original the characters lose their lifetime supply of chocolate because they disobey the rules written in the fine print of the contract Willy Wonka creates. Although there is little attention brought to those contracts, they serve as the beginning of the plot in both movies. 

     In the “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” there seems to be a lack of major conflict. While the spoiled ticket winners faced individual problems, there is little action taking place to solve them other than kicking the child and their parents out of the factory. The “major conflict” of choosing a factory heir is not brought up until the very end of the movie.

     On the other hand, in the new prequel, there is an abundance of problems that they kept running into. However, at the end, all of those small problems connect together to form one solution to solve the main conflict— escaping the laundromat and being allowed to sell his chocolates without the competition of Prodnose, Fickelgruber and Slugworth.

     It is a nice touch how the musical included some easter eggs in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” including the promise of a lifetime supply of chocolate, the golden ticket, the edible flower teacups, his cane standing on its own, the fine print of a contract and his famous line, “scratch that, reverse it.”

     Finally, the new movie ends with the song “Pure Imagination,” which helps to tie this movie back to the original. 

     Overall, the movie connects to the original through small details that would otherwise go unnoticed. This new prequel allows viewers to better understand Willy Wonka’s later life by introducing them to his whimsical and adventurous past.

Sydney Mularski, Media Manager