Timothée Chalamet’s ‘Wonka’ is only semi-sweet

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Wonka, more a product of calculated business strategy than unbridled creative genius, emerges as an eccentric, unevenly delightful confection, featuring Timothée Chalamet as the budding inventor/entrepreneur/chocolatier in an overly saccharine origin story. Despite the film's shortcomings, Chalamet delivers a commendable performance, showcasing his vocal abilities in a mix of unremarkable and exceptional musical numbers. The film finds its footing when itdraws inspiration from the rich tapestry of the 1971 masterpiece.

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For sure, "Wonka" opens with calm melodic types of "Unadulterated Creative mind," and those infectious tunes from the Quality More out of control variant shroud the not-extremely essential new melodies made by Neil Hannon, which will generally depend on marginally moan instigating verses, as Wonka singing to a little kid named Noodle (Calah Path) that "certain individuals don't, and certain individuals doodle."

Hewing toward Wilder (and wisely not Tim Burton’s darker 2005 take with Johnny Depp), Chalamet’s Willy Wonka steps off a boat from parts unknown with little more than a song in his heart, near-mystical chocolate-making skills and, as he sings, “a hatful of dreams.”

Despite phones and old cars, the city where he disembarks has a Dickensian feel to it, including a boarding house run by an accomplished grifter played by Olivia Colman, one of the many members of English acting royalty who pop in, along with Jim Carter (“Downton Abbey”), Rowan Atkinson and Sally Hawkins, much like the Harry Potter series.

As for villains, they consist of a trio of businessmen who head the chocolate cartel and see the fresh-faced Wonka and his divine gravity-defying treats as a threat to their enterprise. The de facto leader is named, appropriately, Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), and their corruption includes assistance from the local police chief (Keegan-Michael Key).