Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) dreams of becoming a chocolatier and after years of travelling the globe honing his recipes he arrives in the big city to open his own shop. However he finds himself blocked by the chocolate cartel, a trio of powerful shop owners by the names of Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Fickelgruber (Matthew Baynton) and Prodnose (Matt Lucas). 

To make matters worse he is tricked by the owners of a wash house and has to work off the debt he owes them in their laundry. But nothing can keep Wonka down. A man filled with ideas and positivity he makes friends with his fellow indebted workers including an orphan named Noodle (Calah Lane) and finds an unlikely ally in the form of Lofty (Hugh Grant), an Oompa-Loompa. 

The film is filled with mad cap schemes, beautiful imagery, memorable characters and to cap it all is a musical filled with big show stopping numbers. Watching Wonka and Noodle fly across the city holding onto some balloons before dancing on a glass building is as joyous as seeing Rowan Atkinson’s corrupt cleric running from a giraffe in a church. Olivia Colman’s evil laundry owner Mrs. Scrubitt and Keegan Michael-Key’s corrupt chief of police are opposite ends of the pantomime villain scale but draw an equal amount of laughs. Whilst the songs from Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon are superb and Chalamet’s singing a real surprise. With “A World Of Your Own” and “Scrub Scrub” creating toe tapping moments. 

Written by Paul King and Simon Farnaby with King in the directors chair this is the same creative team as Paddington 2 and it really shows. Farnaby even plays another hapless security guard again. The pair also bring along the crème de la crème of British acting talent with stars from the likes of Peep Show and Ghosts popping up here and there. Whilst Sally Hawkins now has the honour of being Wonka’s mother and Paddington’s surrogate mother. 

The acting plaudits have to go to Chalamet and Grant who are both sensational. I was actually wondering if I have seen Chalamet better before and that is saying something given his performances in the likes of Dune, Bones And All and Call Me By Your Name. Here though he just exudes charm and epitomises hope, whilst his singing and dancing really hits the spot. Grant on the other hand continues his string of wonderfully funny performances and becomes the perfect Oompa Loompa. 

Wonka is a joyous wonder of a movie.