We loved Wonka – pure imagination (and a lovely coat)

We’ve just been to see the film Wonka, the prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

As the opening credits began, along with the very familiar tune to Pure Imagination, which Gene Wilder sang in the original, Mr Grigg turned to me from the next seat and glowered. My thirteen-year-old granddaughter was yawning on my other side.

‘I thought you said it wasn’t a musical?’ he said.

‘I didn’t know it was.’

It’s true, I didn’t.

However, his grumpiness was not very charitable, considering he’d loved The Greatest Showman and I’d hated it. I would have walked out of that film had he not been sitting next to me in the cheap seats, his eyes fixed in delight on the screen. (My singing friends, the Vicar and Mrs Reed, have never forgiven me for my dislike of this movie.)

‘Just give it a chance, please,’ I whispered, as Wonka began.

It had been a long day and, to be honest, a night out at the cinema probably wasn’t my greatest idea. A night in, falling asleep in front of the telly would have been more relaxing.

But I’d been determined to see the film before it left the big screen, especially as parts of it were filmed on The Cobb at nearby Lyme Regis. I’d even paid for luxury seating (still cheap at Dorchester’s Plaza cinema, believe me) just to persuade Mr Grigg he needed to come along too.

In Wonka as in life, The Cobb was a magical location, made astonishing by the computer generated backdrop of a city with even more beauty and majesty than Lyme Regis itself. This is going some, considering the seaside resort is known as ‘The Pearl of Dorset’.

The three of us soon settled into the swing of the film. We found ourselves enchanted, even though the posh seats were so shiny that, when mine was in the reclining position, I kept slipping out of it like a baby banana being born, and with the speed of the explosive seeds of the Himalayan Balsam plant when someone brushes past it. Whoosh.

After the third vertical ejection, I glanced around and noticed two patrons at the end of our row who were using booster seats as foot rests. I decided to give it a go, which made for a much better viewing experience, and no shooting out of the seat. Oh, the joys of little legs.

Talking of little legs, the hit of the film for me was Hugh Grant as the prototype Oompa Loompa. Brilliant. This man gets better with age.

As the final credits rolled and we stayed for the accompanying bonus scenes, we all agreed it was a film well worth seeing. Timothee Chalamet makes a charming Willy Wonka and the actors, set and story were very fine indeed.

I fell asleep only momentarily, as did Mr Grigg – but not at the same time, so we were able to fill each other in on the blanks.

As well as Hugh Grant, the highlight for me was Willy Wonka’s coat. I could see myself in something like that.

‘Yes,’ my granddaughter agreed. ‘It’s exactly like something you would wear, Granny.’

I’m not sure that was a compliment.

That’s about it.

Love Maddie x