Ever since the release of Roald Dahl’s classic novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Willy Wonka has become one of the most iconic characters of all time. And of course a book being successful means it’s gonna get a movie adaptation, or in Wonka’s case, multiple movie adaptations. With the release of “Wonka” last December, there have been three theatrical Wonka movies, each with their own differences. But how do these movies compare to one another? We’ll be comparing each of the three films in order or release, before crowning the best Willy Wonka movie!
Now let’s start our tour back to the beginning, 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”!
I shouldn’t need to tell you this, but “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is an all time classic. The songs, set design, dialogue, casting, and morals have all become iconic and something every Willy Wonka movie after this has failed to replicate. The film has received some criticism for having a lot of differences from the original book, but it gets the book’s main morals across and some elements it adds end up being the best parts.
Take the Slugworth plot for instance, who is is known throughout the movie as Wonka’s greatest enemy, always trying to steal his recipes. A man claiming he’s Slugworth tells every kid that if they give him an everlasting gobstopper he’ll make them rich. Every kid steals the gobstopper except Charlie, despite him needing more money than all of them. It’s then revealed the whole thing was a test made by Wonka and Charlie passed. This addition to the plot makes Charlie winning the factory so much better, as even when he’s so close to getting everything he and his family want, he turns it down because of the kindness of his heart.
Gene Wilder offers what I believe to be the best Willy Wonka performance, as he manages to be dark and weird (take the chocolate river scene for example) yet also has such a big heart (such as the ending scene).
The songs are also all memorable; I don’t think there’s a single one that hasn’t made its place in musical history. The ending of the film is one of my favorite endings in history, Willy Wonka taking Charlie and Grandpa Joe to see his whole town from the sky, and telling Charlie that he and his whole family will own the factory, and be able to see all these amazing things every day. There’s so much more to say about this movie, if you haven’t seen in a while or have somehow never seen it, go and give it another watch. There’s a reason they made two more of these movies.
Moving 34 years into the future, next up is 2005’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”! Let’s start things off with a pretty hot take: Johnny Depp WIlly Wonka isn’t that great. Depp has some memorable lines, sure, but the thing he lacks most is heart. For me, Willy Wonka is a character who’s odd and weird, which is the type of character Depp is known for playing. But something just as important as his strangeness, is his kind heart deep down. Sure he hides it at the beginning and has no sympathy for the bad kids, but in this film Wonka doesn’t even seem to have a soft spot for Charlie. While his awkwardness has some charm to it, it just doesn’t feel like what Willy Wonka should be to me.
On the other hand, this movie is much more faithful to the book than the original, and I think the five children are all great in this movie. The writers perfectly adapted the kids into how they’d act in the modern day. Really I think this movie adapts every character perfectly except for Wonka.
The big thing this movie adds from the book is Wonka’s relationship with his father, which concludes in a very sweet ending scene, but still not nearly as sweet as the 70s film’s ending.
Additionally, the wonkavador in general feels a lot less magical and a lot more machine-like in this film. In fact, his whole factory seems a lot more industrial and gray than the design of the original factory, but it still certainly has its magical moments. The Oompa Loompa songs are pretty good in this movie, however. The lyrics are taken from the original book while the song itself was written by Danny Elfman (as every Burton movie’s soundtrack is) and every song parodies a different music genre.
At last we arrive at 2023’s “Wonka”. Now, it almost seems unfair to compare “Wonka” to the last two movies, as instead of being an adaptation of the book, Wonka focuses on a young Willy Wonka starting his company. Wonka heavily references the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, taking a few of the songs, Wonka’s outfit, and the Oompa Loompa designs from that movie. The 2005 film is practically ignored, as it is by far the less iconic and less marketable of the two. Luckily, the references to the 70s film feel like natural and clever nods to the film, rather than becoming mindless fan service. “Wonka” also happens to be a musical, the songs of Wonka are all fun little songs, but none are very memorable. The only songs you’ll be humming when you’re done watching the film are likely the ones from this movie took from the original.
On a more positive note, this movie had some surprisingly good casting choices. Timothee Chalamet seemed like an odd choice for Willy Wonka for most, but he did fairly well. Wonka’s story is very cute; it’s not exactly the greatest plot with an inspiring moral, but it works for the type of movie it was trying to be. In the end, “Wonka” is a fun movie. It isn’t anything like any other Willy Wonka story we’ve seen, and is certainly creative. “Wonka” is a very cute movie that I would recommend watching when you have the chance, especially if you’re a fan of 70s Willy Wonka, which is this movie’s target demographic.
Overall, there has yet to be a bad Willy Wonka movie. All three of them are creative, colorful stories. However, I’ll have to give the crown of best Willy Wonka movie to 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. A predictable choice, sure. But there’s a reason it’s so well-remembered! The Willy Wonka franchise will probably keep growing, and I’m excited to see what’s next for the chocolate maker.