Wonka [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Paul King

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key

Release Date: February 27, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Armed with nothing but a hatful of dreams, young chocolatier Willy Wonka manages to change the world, one delectable bite at a time.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Wonka’ tells the story of legendary chocolate maker Willy Wonka’s younger days as he returns from a voyage around the world seeking the best ingredients known to man and arrives in the Chocolate capital of the world with the intent to become the greatest chocolate maker ever. But unfortunately for Wonka, that might not be the case if the greedy local chocolate cartel has anything to say about it. Fearing that the quality and uniqueness of Wonka’s fine chocolates will implode their own questionable methods, the cartel heads quickly begin to try and find ways to get rid of the young hopeful talent before he’s able to stand any chance at success. But what they aren’t aware of is just how resilient the young man truly is.

Directed by Paul King (Paddington 1 & 2) from a screenplay written by King and Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2), King does a spectacular job at the helm of ‘Wonka’ guiding along the fantastical tale with heart and style. The film’s notable cast includes Timothée Chalamet (Dune (2021), Calah Lane (TV’s This is Us), Keegan-Michael Key (TV’s Schmigadoon!), Paterson Joseph (TV’s That Dirty Black Bag), Matt Lucas (Paddington), Mathew Baynton (TV’s Ghosts UK), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English), Jim Carter (Downton Abbey: A New Era), Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and Hugh Grant (The Gentlemen) along with more, the majority each providing fully capable performances for the most part in their respective roles.

‘Wonka’ serves up a remarkably sweet and charming adventure that chronicles the early days of Willy Wonka’s chocolate making career with a clear intention of serving as a prequel to the ‘70s classic starring Gene Wilder. You can also notice some clear similarities to King’s ‘Paddington’ films as it often exudes a similar sense of wonder and childlike awe throughout, while Timothée Chalamet contributes a fitting and quite enjoyable portrayal of the iconic character that one can largely imagine growing into the older interpretation that we’re more familiar with. His solid performance in the lead is only wonderfully complemented by a stellar supporting cast that are each a delight themselves in their supporting roles.

It’s a largely rewarding new take on Wonka that provides some background on the popular character from Dahl’s novel. Whether entirely necessary or not (and does it really matter these days?), ‘Wonka’ is an awful lot of fun and even those of you like me who aren’t always the biggest fan of musicals might just find yourself tapping your foot along with some of the catchier numbers along the way. I also couldn’t help but appreciate the early nod at how silly the concept of people breaking into song can sometimes appear as a full on musical number shifts to an outsider’s perspective of seeing a single man dancing idiotically in the middle of a street and the manner in which it makes these songs feel appropriate and not entirely illogical certainly doesn’t hurt either.

Overall – ‘Wonka’ delivers a colorful, often touching and thoroughly enjoyable look at how Willy Wonka came to be the respected chocolate maker we know and thanks to a gorgeously crafted world complemented by a lot of heart and a great performance by Chalamet, it quickly evolves into something fairly special. ‘Wonka’ is definitely highly recommended, especially for fans of filmmaker Paul King, star Timothée Chalamet or Roald Dahl’s novel that the character of Wonka originated from who should each find an awful lot to love about this new tale which exudes charm, style and a sense of almost childlike wonder in its approach. It’s a wonderfully clever and quite funny ride that is most certainly worth taking. If you’re already even slightly interested in ‘Wonka’ I would strongly encourage making a point of checking it out because you might just be surprised by how delightful it actually manages to be.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Wonka’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks absolutely gorgeous and provides a clean, richly colored and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any unexpected troubles or flaws to be uncovered throughout. Rich detail is evident on everything from character faces and clothing to the unique surroundings both interior and exterior, along with plenty more. The Dolby Vision HDR makes a delightful complement that boosts the already impressive picture by contributing clean, vibrant and more accurate colors paired with deep, rich black levels. Overall, this is a marvelous Ultra High Definition video presentation that should thoroughly excite fans and newcomers alike.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a great complement to the onscreen fun and offers a clean, crisp and notably immersive audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send the music, flying characters, machinery and a great deal more regularly zipping throughout the various speakers while never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered problematic in the process. Overall, this is a stellar Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that delivers on all fronts and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Wonka’ features a handful of enjoyable extras in the way of Behind the Scenes Featurettes that include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Unwrapping Wonka: Paul King’s Vision’ (running approximately 12 minutes in length), ‘The Whimsical Music of Wonka’ (running approximately 6 minutes), ‘Welcome to Wonka Land’ (approximately 11 minutes), ‘Hats Off to Wonka’ (7 minutes) and ‘Wonka’s Chocolatier’ (9 minutes). Also included is ‘Musical Moments’ which offers the ability to jump directly to any of the musical numbers in the film.

 

*Please note: The above images were provided by Warner Bros. and are not reflective of the actual 4K Ultra HD release or its quality. A standard Blu-ray copy of the film was not included in the release that could be used for screenshots therefore the above publicity stills were utilized. They are all the property of Warner Bros. Discovery and any other respective owners.

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Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Wonka’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

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You can purchase your copy of the ‘Wonka’ 4K UHD release on Amazon HERE!

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