Like many people, one of my favorite movies growing up was “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The 1971 classic was on repeat in my house. There was something so weirdly magical about Gene Wilder’s creepy, yet inviting portrayal of the Roald Dahl character, and of course, the crazy candy was just something I wanted to frolic in forever as a 10-year-old.

But the original movie always left me wondering about who Willy Wonka truly was. How did he become this magical chocolatier? The 2005 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” remake touched on this a little, exploring how his dad was a dentist and never allowed Willy to have candy, but there were still a lot of plot holes. So when they announced the prequel “Wonka,” I knew I had to see it.

My mom and I went into my hometown theater over break with high expectations, ready to see whatever twisted fate led to this borderline psychotic character. However, we left feeling very confused. I knew “Wonka” was rated PG going into the film, but I did not know that it was a musical. I typically do not mind the genre, but this structure, to me, did not fit the premise of the film. I was expecting some grand monologues about the trials and tribulations of Willy’s life and opening the chocolate factory–some Oscar-worthy acting. But no, there were only some Chicago Cell Block Tango knockoff songs about chocolate, washing clothes and a main character named Noodle. 

I was also really looking forward to diving deeper into Slugworth’s background as well. An archnemesis is crucial to any plot, but we learn little to nothing about this character, other than that he is Noodle’s father, which serves no relevance to Wonka himself. Subplots are also crucial to a movie, but including storylines about Noodle and the laundry sidekicks left way too many stories to be finished and made the second half of the movie feel really rushed. Now the characters that should have been explored more were the Oompa Loompas. There was only one in the entire film, and he was just stealing some chocolate from Willy that did not even impact his sales. I just wanted some acknowledgment of how and why the Oompa Loompas got to the factory.

Also, Timothee Chalamet singing musical theater? Anytime his mouth opened in song I could not get his pre-fame lil Timmy Tim videos out of my head. While I am all for not letting your digital footprint define you, I just could not take Chalamet seriously. I also tried my hardest not to compare him to Gene Wilder’s and Johnny Depp’s portrayals, but Chalamet’s performance just did not feel like Willy Wonka at all to me. Without the classic purple coat and top hat, I would have just thought it was a regular movie about making candy. 

All in all, “Wonka” fell flat in so many ways and left me with even more questions and confusion. A film dedicated to digging deeper into Willy Wonka’s backstory was just a confirmation that, while it takes many people to build an empire, history only remembers one name. Maybe that is why Willy Wonka is so sad and wants to give away his factory in the end? Because he feels guilty? All I know is that lil Timmy Tim did not deserve two Golden Globe nominations for his subpar performance.