Cinepals - WONKA (2023) Movie Review!

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

You can watch the cut down reaction to this movie (and many others) on our YouTube channel https://www.YouTube.com/@Cinepals and the full length reaction is available on our Patreon page https://www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay   SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals   ~ACHARA~ Twitter & Instagram: @Acharakirk YouTube: @Achara

Sinha. Pals. Well, here we are. Finally, what's going on, everybody? I'm Jabby Kauai, joined by a chariot. Kirk. What's up? We are watching Wonka. Here we go. Oh.

Okay. That was a nearly perfect movie. What was there a plan? Like, it was so, so good. My face hurts from just smiling throughout. It's so delightful. Yeah, I really liked it a lot. I have three complaints in total. I didn't care about the comedian.

Oh, yeah. Some of his friend characters weren't really, you know. I guess that's a general. No, but like, I liked the old white guy with the who looks like the pops from American Pie. Oh, the accountant? Yeah, the accountant. I thought he was cool. I liked him.

I didn't like the mom at the very end, like her acting when she reunited. with her mom. I don't know if that was by design, but I wanted to feel like, I wanted to cry. Yeah, me too. And I was like, no, that's cool. And then the CGI on Hugh Grant was all right. But Hugh Grant was amazing. Hugh Grant's charming. He's like, he's Hugh Grant. He's just so good at what he does. Those things aside, it was just a beautiful movie. And you don't get films like this very often. I would love to see this as like a musical. Obviously, I mean, it is a musical movie, but like it just feels like something you would go to the theater to watch.

You got Charlie in the Chocolate Factory and that movie still stands the test of time. A lot of these films stand the test of time because they were made in a particular way that just feels kind of somehow immortal. This film did such a great job that 20 years from now you can still watch this film.

Just the style of it all. It feels very classic and timeless. Yeah, very much so. It's like, you know, with those beautiful set pieces and like the songs and the dancing and just how whimsical it is. And it's really fun as well. Like, I was surprised that it was like a full-on musical.

Obviously, I'm like, okay, yeah, that totally makes sense. I didn't realize that there would be so many songs. I'm not a musical person, and I like the songs in those songs. Yeah, they were so much fun. And I particularly loved how they brought back some of the songs from the movie with Gene Wilder, the umpah-lumba-lumba theme, pure imagination. Scrub-scrub was fun. It was just so nice, just kind of all the nods to the,

things that we love, but then also it being its own original thing. And seeing his mother's gift to him, the golden ticket, was such a cool callback because, like, that's the whole thing in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, right? And so, yeah, it was just so magical and whimsical and sweet. She was also well ahead of her time because she understood the power of preservatives. I know. I was like, dude, how long has it been and you're eating this chocolate and it's still good? Like, I mean, you're watching a movie where chocolate is a currency. And so, not that it's not in real life, but you're watching a film where chocolate is literally a currency. So I think you can buy into the possibility that the chocolate in his pocket lasted 20 years or whatever.

Sure. Yeah, I mean, there were so many things happening in this movie that just defy logic. And so why not that chocolate never goes bad? The acting on Timothy Shalime was remarkable. I thought he was so, so good. I'm just like, dude, like, how are you this talented? This is crazy town. Like, I only learned who you were, like, a few years ago.

So much talent. You know what I mean? Like, and it's also refreshing to see him in this kind of role for me because, like, I haven't watched him too many times. And as soon as I think of him, I just think of Dune. Right. Well, because right now that's the thing he's most known for. I think of Dune and I think, call me by your name.

Yeah, he's also an interesting. That was like one of his earlier roles. Yeah, who's the kid in Interstellar. Oh. The brother, the younger version of Casey Affleck. He has a whole thing about it. You know, he was so excited to see himself in the film. And during the recording he made, it was mostly just his voice while, what's his name, crying?

Oh, Matthew McConaughey was just crying. And it was just like, ah, this is my big break. Why am I not even in the movie here? I feel his pain. I just thought he did such a fantastic job with the whole package of being this person, being that charming, being fun. singing, I don't know if that's his actual voice. It sounds like it was probably his voice. Like, he was doing so much.

I can't tell the difference between, like, amazing singing and decent singing, like, because I'm not audibly equipped like that, but I thought he did a great job. Yeah, I mean, I would say as far as, I mean, this is coming from my opinion, right? And I'm not a hardcore musical person, but I thought his singing was decent. Like, I would categorize him as an actor who can sing. And dance. Yeah. Like all the movement was great.

The movement was great. The choreography was really fun. A lot of the stuff, at least, that he was doing wasn't anything like too crazy. You know, it's not like he was doing aerials and stuff. Like they had proper dancers and stuff doing the more elaborate stuff. But yes, he was giving it all. I liked it. I liked this giraffe scene when he was dancing with his coat and stuff like that.

I thought that was cute. Yeah, that was really cute. Like it was just like really well thought out. It makes you feel just so magical. And like, I love the stuff that they had in the chocolate shop. It was so cool that the first guy he brings in is this old guy. I think it really speaks to how through this movie and, like, also the character of the old guy, it's like you're finding your inner child.

Just being a kid again and enjoying all of those things that as an adult, you know, we kind of forget that, you know, you can actually still have fun and still be in awe of magic. It's amazing how a movie about chocolate is not saccharin. It doesn't go too far. It's just a wholesome film. It's got a lot going on with all these different characters. I feel like the acting isn't perfect across the board. No.

But he did such a great job. Kegan Michael Key also did a great job. I forgot he's in this movie. Rowan Atkinson. Yeah. Also, like small role, but I liked him as well. And I think that was Matt Lucas as well from Little Britain. The bad guy that made you laugh a lot, the bald one.

I thought the trio of them were great. They were fantastic. They were well casted. It's an interesting fine line because you could easily go, you know, just a step too far and now you're overacting. It's in that perfect Goldilocks zone where it's like a character. It's not real, but it's not too far. It's like just right. Kind of like a stage performance.

Yeah. But dial back a little bit. So it's just enough. Just enough for film. Yeah. Because if you do full on stagey. It's going to feel like that. But this felt like it was just pitch perfect for it being like a musical, but in a film.

The lady who played the hotel owner. Olivia Coleman. She was awesome. She's always awesome. Yeah. No, I love her. When I watched her in the show that she'll not be named, mainly because I can't remember the invasions or something. Secret Invasion.

Thank you. Yeah. She was my favorite part of that show. The favorite? I loved her in that. Every time I've seen her, she's very strong. She's so amazing. Yeah.

She must have had a real. lot of fun in this role because she had a whole thing you know what i'm saying she fully commits every single character that she does you know even though you hate her character and and her male counterpart there's still something like fun and charming about them yeah you know and that's very role doll as well even though characters are kind of really awful there's still something about them that makes them entertaining like mrs trunchball terrible terrible terrible She's so bad and you just root for Matilda. I'm not familiar with this director, Paul King.

Space Force I've seen. Oh, Little Britain. And the Mighty Bush. I love that show. Okay. I think it takes a very visionary director to like see this thing through. It's like such a finely crafted film. I was looking for flaws and I couldn't find any.

Because I'm watching how it's all put together. It felt like he had a really clear roadmap. Yeah. You know what I mean? From every shot, every edit, every move, everything was so. thoughtful in a way that you don't see very often. I feel like this movie was kind of written off early on. Like, we didn't ask for this, like, Toy Story 4. Right. You know, but like you get there and it's like this is like one of those things that to me is just undeniable. If you don't like

this movie, something's wrong with you. Like, this is just a great film. Well, there are some people that don't like. I don't understand why. Like, I don't understand what you could not like about it. Like, what are you expecting? If you don't like this, what are you expecting exactly? You're dead inside. I guess for some people, what you deem as saccharine is just in the eye of the beholder. Sure, yeah. For me, as someone who is very averse to things that are too saccharin, I found it quite enjoyable. I'm honestly surprised. I did want to watch this with you.

I wanted to share it with you. For me, this is something that I was very excited about because growing up, like I said, like Roll Dahl was one of my favorite authors. And it's just such a massive part of my childhood because I loved the. worlds that he conjured up and these amazing characters and the stories that were just centered around children and you just always felt like something crazy but cool and just whimsical and magical could happen at any time like all your dreams could come true and he was such a talented writer for children I just feel like this movie encapsulated all of those things really well and all of the things that are Willie Wonka's character

that, you know, we've come to know and love in later iterations of, like, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he's, like, a grown-up and everything. You see the start of all of that here, which is great. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought you were going to say something negative about... No, not at all. I'm like, I enjoyed this, and I kind of wish that, like,

Warner Brothers would make Wonka land. I think they are going to. I want to go there. When I was watching the stuff in the... shop I was like how do you you can't do this in your life and it'd be satisfying to anybody like you're not gonna be able to eat anything you know what I mean I want to eat the flowers I want to like put a cup in the chocolate river and just like drink chocolate and hopefully like not fall in it and have some disastrous things happen to

me like in Charlie in the chocolate factory the part where the hero loses at all moment you know like the Sidfield structure of screenplay writing I could see that coming from a mile away it's like that kind of kind of has to happen in the movie. Like, it can't just be on this, you know, cheeriest end the entire time. Yeah, I mean, I think the beats were definitely predictable, right? Yeah. You know what's going to happen. You know, like, okay, except I wasn't fully aware that it was the bad guys who were putting the, the, the, the, the, the, the chocolate. I was like, oh, my God, I'm shocked. But, like, obviously, all of these things had to happen. And so there's no big surprises. But I think

the world is so fun and the characters are so much fun that we're like just along for the ride. So the one thing I feel like could inform or incentivize people to have like a negative perception of the film is just the corporate tocracy of everything. You know how it's based on this pre-existing thing

that was already popular and so companies are always trying to find the IP that they could milk for more money. However, that said, while there are movies out there that are spinoffs from an already existing successful IP, a lot of those end up just feeling like a cash grab. And it's like at the end of the day, everything's a cash grab, right? If you think about it, everything is about making money.

It's that does it sweep you off your feet, so to speak? Does it whisk you into another place? So that feels magical and feels like it was crafted. Does it feel artistic? While I recognize everything's about making money, either something feels artistic or it doesn't. Either something feels nice or it doesn't. You know, you have something like morbious. And it's like, you know what I mean? Versus versus this. This, it's like this feels like it was beautifully done. A lot of thought and care and love was put into this because Paul King also wrote this, directed this. And so...

He was one of the writers, but yes. Yeah, it was his vision that was really coming to life as to how he wanted to portray this character and this world. Because, like, it feels like maybe a little bit familiar, but then also just, like, completely wild. Yeah. You know, like certain places and stuff, I was like, oh, yeah, that kind of looks like, you know, Covent Garden maybe or like somewhere in London.

But this looks completely fantastical. The Disney Live Actions, I think, is a better example than Morbius. But, like, Morbius is like from the Spider-Man universe. Yeah. Right. The Disney Live Action films, they're literally just trying to like borrow from this pre-existing IP and make more money off of it. Right. But they're not really taking it anywhere interesting.

Exactly. They're not doing anything original in a way that is compelling. Is really meaningful. Yeah. I mean, I guess they tried to. with things like Maleficent or with Crewella, you know, because it's not just repeating the same story, but in live action.

Whereas this is like, you know, Roldahl is dead. I'm imagining didn't write this story, but it is based on his characters, but somehow it feels like this would make sense. This feels in line with what he might write. And that's hard to do. Yeah.

I very much appreciate this film. They saw like the rating here in IMDB has like a 7 out of 10 or something. That's pretty high for a... IMDB, to be fair. Well, I saw a film the other day that had an 8. Something out of 10 that I did not like as much.

So I liked it quite a bit. And I hope you guys... Well, if you guys are watching this, obviously, you liked it too. Unless they're just expecting me to be, like, munched himself. I know. It's surprising, isn't it,

when Jabby actually really enjoys something? I just thought it was so magical. You know what it is? It's also that thing where I feel like kids don't get movies. Like, we used to get movies when we were kids. Like the sandlot,

The Mighty Ducks and all that stuff. Like, we used to get films that were like, for us, the PG range. You know what I mean? And they were awesome. Angels in the Outfield, you know, like, there are all these films that were made for what I was like 10 years old. It's so cool when you see something like this on this scale that's made for that demographic again.

I think it's really cool, you know, and it's not based on a book. It is based. Kind of, but not really, yeah. It is based on, it is based on IP, but it still is like original in its own way, you know? Yeah. And I think that's what was really. drawing me to it as well because it's like, yeah, I'm familiar with the book.

I'm familiar with the character, or rather the books, because there's also Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which is like the sequel. It's fun to kind of see a prequel that makes sense. Yeah, the note that I want to end this on to circle back to that corporatocracy thing, right? Yeah.

It's like, is it lazy or not? Is it a lazy piece of storytelling or not? Is it thoughtful or is it lazy? And this is definitely, in my opinion, thoughtful. yeah thoughtful and made with a lot of love yeah exactly yeah so cool you guys thanks so much I'm jambicoie this is achara cook peace out