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Wonka

Photo+of+Willy+Wonka
Makayla Brown
Photo of Willy Wonka

Willy Wonka has been a story told through generations. There are a total of four movie adaptations of the story of Willy Wonka. The newest one being “Wonka”, released on Dec. 15, 2023 and personally my favorite. The movie is inspired by Roald Dahl’s Wonka books. It is a two hour musical comedy starring Timothee Chalamet. He did such a great job with his acting and made the movie come to life so wonderfully.

Photo of Wonka Poster (Makayla Brown)

The movie begins with young Wonka’s dreams of opening his own chocolate shop inspired by his mother. On his journey he meets a friend but also meets a foe. He meets his friend, Noodle, while being imprisoned by his foe, an evil innkeeper and laundress Mrs. Scrubitt.  He is struggling with the challenge of wanting to make and sell his chocolate but three store owners, Slugworth, Mr. Fickelgruber, and Mr. Prodnose stand in his way. 

In the end he helps Noodle find her mother and he ends up opening his own factory. This was a special and unique movie apart from the others because in this “Wonka” movie they gave more of a heartfelt beginning for Willy Wonka and it really added a special touch to his dreams. I personally liked this movie because Chalamet executed the role perfectly and added a special kind of love in the chocolate making business.

“It being a musical threw me off and was definitely not what I expected but in the end I thought it was a great movie,” said Mia Carpenter, COMPASS ninth grader. Many students were thrown off with it being a musical and seeing Timothee Chalamet singing because usually he acts in more dramatic pieces so seeing him in a change of genre was refreshing. But overall the reviews showed  many people liked the movie, including myself. 

I am looking forward to seeing if they are going to be making another remake of this delightful film or even a sequel to show more of Willy Wonka’s journey with his chocolate factory. I really enjoyed the creativity of this movie and how it was a wonderful experience. I recommend watching it if you are looking for a lovely treat. You won’t be disappointed with this Willy Wonka story.

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About the Contributor
Sophia Bravo
Sophia Bravo, Staff Reporter
Sophia Bravo She/Her Hello! I am a 9th grader here at Millikan and I'm in the pathway Quest.  For fun I like to play soccer and tennis. I also enjoy  reading and baking. I am so excited to help share important news in anyway I can at Millikan.    

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  • R

    Robert NelsonMar 25, 2024 at 1:44 pm

    On March 18 , 2024, Sophia Bravo wrote an article titled “Wonka”. First of all great article, I personally love the articles that cover recent media such as music and film. Also I have to agree that Timothee Chalamet did an amazing job portraying the young Willie Wonka. I also love how this movie took a spin on how traditional Willie Wonka movies are made and instead portrayed a young Wonka before his fame. I found that a really interesting thing that the studio did and I think they did a great job with the production of the movie. Another thing I have to agree with is the movie being a musical did throw me off a bit. This is because I saw this movie after I had seen Dune 2, another movie that Chalamet appears in, and it is a major contrast of roles and really displays the flexibility of Timothee Chalamet’s acting. Thank you for making articles like these and I hope to see more In the near future

    Sincerely,

    Robert Nelson

    Reply
  • M

    Mazen MendozaMar 20, 2024 at 12:18 pm

    On March 15, 2024, Sophia Bravo wrote an article titled “Wonka”. The article was a quick and informative synopsis of the film. I also thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and thought that Timothee Chalamet did a great job at embodying the spirit of a young and wide-eyed Wonka. The main interviewee of the article, Mia Carpenter, perfectly encapsulates the way I felt about the movie. I have never enjoyed musicals, very few of can I actually deem good. However, Wonka in all its musical flair was genuinely a great film. It was funny, entertaining, colorful, and full of good characters whos’ performances made it easy to be absorbed into the story that was being told. Unlike previous renditions of the Willy Wonka story, this newest version didn’t have the psycopathic and disturbingly disconnected chocolate maker that has been presented in earlier movies. Even though that could be considered a key part of Wonka’s character, I feel that the optimistic and charismatic character that Chalamet played was a very welcome refreshing watch. The musical aspects incorporated weren’t overwhelming and, in my opinion, fit perfectly with Chalamet’s character of an aspiring kid with an overactive imagination picturing how his candies would change the world and how his wildest dreams growing up would one day bear fruit. Much like Sophia and Mia, I feel that it was a great and fun movie and another great performance by Chalamet.

    Reply
  • L

    Lilly AlexanderMar 20, 2024 at 10:48 am

    On March 15, 2024, Sophia Bravo wrote an article titled “Wonka”. This article begins with a good background of what the new Wonka movie is about. Bravo also did a good job mentioning the other Wonka movies in the first paragraph. Bravo starts off the second article by introducing Wonka, his dreams, and who he meets. This lets the reader know what Wonka is about without having to watch the movie. I like how in the third paragraph Bravo explains the end of the movie and then gives her opinion on why it’s her favorite movie, as well as why there’s an interesting aspect to it. I like how Bravo also used someone else’s opinion to support hers and explain what other people were thinking about the movie as well. It was nice to see Bravo explain why she liked it so much and how she wanted to share this with other people so they could also enjoy it. Bravo does a good job finishing the article by encouraging the audience to go watch it by saying “I recommend watching it if you are looking for a lovely treat.” This gives a connection to the Wonka movie by saying it’s a treat and her own experience of enjoying the movie.

    Reply
  • C

    Camila CortezMar 20, 2024 at 9:36 am

    On March 15, 2024, Sophia Bravo wrote an article titled “Wonka. Sophia did a wonderful job of providing background on the previous movies and books. This was important to add in case many kids have not heard of Willy Wonka. This story kind of spoiled the movie to me, but it’s my fault for not watching it yet. I also like How Bravo provided insight into what other students thought of the movie. Bravo also provided her own personal opinions and thoughts about the movie/musical. This gives me an idea of what other people my age are thinking of the movie. The addition of discussing Timothee Chalamet’s acting skills in the movie was an important detail to add. This also gives people an idea if the movie is worth the watch. Over all, this story was amazingly written and very informative. I will now be watching this move thanks to the good feedback I’ve read.

    Reply
  • K

    Kylie MontielMar 19, 2024 at 9:37 pm

    Sophia did a wonderful job of explaining the plot of the movie to her readers. Also, as she included one of our Millikan student’s thoughts, it really allowed the readers to understand what stands out about this movie. I also really enjoyed reading the article written by a person who was genuinely interested and invested into the movie. This genuine interest adds value to her writing as she shows her readers how her experience with this movie was very pleasant. It also gives her credibility as she has seen and enjoyed the movie herself.
    I would suggest adding another quote from another student, or even a teacher, to get another perspective on the movie. This would allow the readers to see the movie from multiple perspectives instead of just one or two. Another recommendation would be to not tell the readers the end of the movie. This way if they have interest in the movie they will be more motivated to want to watch it.

    Reply
  • C

    Chloe NeprudMar 19, 2024 at 10:05 am

    On March 15, 2024, Sophia Bravo wrote an article titled “Wonka”. I watched the Wonka movie last month and even though I don’t usually watch musicals, it has become one of my favorites. I liked how they gave the characters working in Mrs. Scrubbit’s shop storylines like Noodle’s journey to find her mom, which I think gave the movie a unique and heartfelt touch apart from the others. I thought it was nice that despite the oompa loompa not liking Wonka and stealing his chocolate in the beginning of the movie, he decided to save Wonka and Noodle from drowning in chocolate in the end. I also enjoyed watching Wonka overcome the challenge of the 3 store owners doing everything they could to try and stop him selling his chocolate, and seeing Wonka open up his own chocolate factory at the end. Overall, I agree that the Wonka movie was good, and I liked the heartfelt touch it was given.

    Reply
  • D

    Danyela BrilliantMar 19, 2024 at 9:51 am

    Bravo seemed to really enjoy this movie very much and even said it is currently her favorite movie. She said that Timothee Chalamet played his role perfectly and really helped his character come to life and make the movie better. She summarized the movie in a few paragraphs for anyone that has not seen the new Wonka movie and also explained that there are four different makes of the Willy Wonka movie. The oldest one was made but wasn’t expected to be much of a hit, but later on it actually did become very popular. A little addition about the original movie is that my great, great uncle actually was the editor of the movie and is put in the credits as the official editor.
    Bravo also asks the opinions of others about if they enjoyed the movie or not. Mia Carpenter, a freshman here, said that she wasn’t expecting it to be a whole musical with Timothee Chalamet as the main character singing all the time, but she claimed that it was still a great movie. I also was not expecting this movie to be a musical with Timothee Chalamet as the main character, so it wasn’t my favorite movie ever, but it was still a pretty decent movie.

    Reply
  • D

    Dayanara ZamoraMar 19, 2024 at 9:42 am

    The article was on the newest version of Willy Wonka. It featured my all time favortive actor Timothee Chalamet. I agree that Chalament did a great job on acting and singing since Chalamet never usually plays roles that involve singing. I have heard from social media that there could’ve been better actors to play the Willy Wonka role. I believe that there couldn’t be any better choice to play the role. But I can say that the older versions of Willy Wonka was better only because it gives my nostalgia of when I was younger. The plot of the movie was how Willy Wonka became a owner of a chocolate factory. This movie shows Wonka before having his own factory and figuring out what he wanted to do in his life. I liked how this movie wasn’t a remake of the other Wonka movies.

    Reply
  • S

    Suzanna GonzalezMar 19, 2024 at 9:36 am

    I enjoyed reading this piece since I’ve seen the movie quite a few times myself since I enjoy it very much. I was honestly surprised to see someone make an article about this, but I enjoyed reading it. It gives a brief summary of the movie and was done amazingly, the summary doesn’t give away the full plot, but is interesting enough to make new people want to watch the movie.
    I really loved watching the movie for the first time inside the theater, my elder sister watched it before my family did, and she was annoyingly singing along with the songs. The songs are one of my favorite parts about the movie, and the singers did a really great job performing while acting. Like a quote in the article said about being thrown off about it being a musical, it was kinda confusing when I suddenly heard music playing in the background while Chalamet’s character, Willy Wonka, started singing. I’m really happy it was a musical since it adds a lot of character to the movie, and wouldn’t be the same without the fun musical numbers.

    Reply
  • M

    MichaelMar 19, 2024 at 9:35 am

    Dear Corydon Editor,

    On March 15, 2024, Sophia Bravo wrote an article titled “Wonka”.
    The first thing I noticed was the grammatical error in the first sentence in which the author should’ve written “throughout” or a word with similar connotations.
    The paragraphs and sentences do not flow well, an early example being the sentence where she says “personally my favorite” instead of “ my personal favorite”, an expression that I think would be the obvious choice to convey her thoughts on the movie.
    I believe the second paragraph is repetitive and poorly achieves its purpose of explaining the plot of the film. After reading said paragraph, I didn’t have any more understanding of the film than I did beforehand.
    Although she receives an opinion from another student who had seen the movie, this quote offers no special insight or new perspectives, and of course only having one other opinion on the movie dampens the overall impact
    Overall, this writing left nothing but a sense of confusion and disdain, as not only did it not convince me to watch the movie, I believe this article also ensured that I never will.

    Sincerely,

    Michael Bravo

    Reply
  • J

    Joey JosetersonMar 15, 2024 at 11:05 am

    I have seen all of the different versions and I must agree this one is at the top of my list!

    Reply