7 Movies To Watch If You Loved Wonka

It does feel like every single beloved pop culture character is getting their own prequel these days, and Willy Wonka — the oddball, chocolatier, and candy-maker created by author Roald Dahl in his 1964 novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" — is no exception. In late 2023, writer-director Paul King (whose name will come up quite a lot throughout this list) helmed the standalone film focusing on Wonka's backstory, aptly titled "Wonka" — with Timothée Chalamet as the young version of the pop culture staple — and when all was said and done, Chalamet, King, and the movie's supporting cast — which includes Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Keegan-Michael Key, and Hugh Grant — won over audiences and critics alike thanks to the movie's charm, whimsy, and humor.

So let's say you loved "Wonka" and you're looking for a new movie that's similar in one way or the other. We've got you covered — and as a bonus, all of the films listed here are just as family-friendly as "Wonka," so all ages can enjoy these quite happily. From King's other takes on classic characters to the original "Wonka" movie to an underrated Martin Scorsese film, here are seven movies you should check out if you're a fan of "Wonka."

Nobody quite knew what to expect when Paul King made his first "Paddington" movie back in 2014, perhaps because there were already a fair amount of movies in existence by then where a small CGI animal interacts with humans (and not many of them were that good). King's approach in both of his "Paddington" movies works so superbly for one particular reason, though: he never talks down to his audience, and by understanding that "Paddington" would be watched by adults and children alike, he simply created a dreamy, emotional, and fantastically imaginative movie that centers around the literary bear who leaves Darkest Peru for London and is named for the train station in which he's found. 

Voiced by Ben Whishaw, Paddington is an absolute delight, and when he meets up with the Brown family — patriarch Henry (Hugh Bonneville), his wife Mary (Sally Hawkins), and their children Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) — they decide to take him in despite Henry's misgivings. As he settles in with his new family, Paddington gets into a fair number of scrapes — frustrating Henry and delighting Mary, Judy, Jonathan and the family's housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) — but when the bear ends up in real danger, the Browns band together to save him from the evil taxidermist Millicent Clyde (a deliciously campy Nicole Kidman). King's sense of wonder is on full display in the first "Paddington" movie as it is in "Wonka" ... and luckily, there are two wonderful "Paddington" movies to watch if you like "Wonka."

If you loved "Paddington," you'll go absolutely wild for "Paddington 2" — because it's somehow even better than the excellent first movie. In the sequel — also written and directed by Paul King — Paddington is living happily with the Brown family when he decides that he needs to find the perfect present for his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton), his only remaining relative who still resides in Darkest Peru ... and he settles on a pop-up book of London and starts saving money while doing odd jobs. Unfortunately, a thief steals the book from its antiques shop before Paddington can buy it, and he's accused of the crime. Our sweet bear obviously didn't do it, so who did? That would be Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant, having the time of his life), an actor whose star is seriously fading and who believes the book contains clues to hidden treasure in London.

When Paddington ends up in prison, it seems like a really strange turn for the movie to take at first — until Paddington's kind nature and persistence win over his fellow inmates, including the prison's chef Knuckles McGinty (Brendan Gleeson), who quite likes Paddington's "recipe" for marmalade sandwiches. "Paddington 2" is somehow both a treatise on sweeping prison reform and an absolutely delightful movie — which also happens to feature the performance Grant calls the best of his entire career — and it's easy to guess that it ends happily, but the journey is the fun part. In fact, "Paddington 2" is so beloved that, for a while, it held the highest possible rating on Rotten Tomatoes, even beating out "Citizen Kane" ... until one critic ruined its perfect track record. Still, it's an unimpeachably delightful movie from start to finish; have yourself a Paul King marathon with "Wonka" and both "Paddington" films if you feel so inclined.

Millennials who grew up with their nose in a book already love "Matilda," and if that doesn't describe you, you should watch this charming, darkly hilarious, and uplifting movie anyway. Adapted from Roald Dahl's children's book of the same name and directed by Danny DeVito — who also plays a major supporting role in the movie — "Matilda" tells the story of the titular girl Matilda Wormwood (played by Mara Wilson). Matilda's deal is that she loves reading ... and, as it happens, possesses strange telekinetic powers. Unfortunately for her, she's stuck in a family of stubborn dummies who hate reading and only want to watch television — including her father, the sleazy car salesman Harry Wormwood (DeVito), his cruel wife and Matilda's mother Zinnia (Rhea Perlman), and older brother Michael (Brian Levinson).

As Matilda's abilities become more and more apparent — like when she makes her family's television explode after Harry takes away her book and forces her to watch something stupid — she begins to use them against her evil school principal Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) to help the tyrannical woman's stepdaughter of sorts Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz). Matilda's powers and intelligence ultimately win out against both her awful parents and Miss Trunchbull, and at the end of the movie, she gets to go and live with the sweet and kind Miss Honey, who encourages both her scholastic exploits and her mysterious powers. From the scene where Miss Trunchbull forces a boy to eat an entire chocolate cake to Wilson's incredible central performance, "Matilda" is a must-watch for "Wonka" fans, particularly since it's also based on a Dahl character; if you loved the musical aspects of "Wonka," though, feel free to check out the movie version of "Matilda The Musical," which came out in 2022.

If you watched "Wonka" without seeing any of the previous adaptations of Roald Dahl's stories centered on the chocolate-maker, you're seriously missing out — not on the borderline dreadful version that Tim Burton made with Johnny Depp in 2005 that bore the novel's name "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," but on Mel Stuart's 1971 version "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Anchored by comedic genius Gene Wilder as Wonka himself, Stuart's movie is, to be clear, weirdly dark; Wilder's Wonka is positively gleeful as he leads Golden Ticket winners through his chocolate factory and several of them end up in life-threatening situations after behaving badly. (No, really — the stuff that happens to these literal children is really scary, and not only does Wonka seem to love it, he gets his Oompa-Loompas to sing little songs about each kid's downfall.) Then there's that infamously freaky boat ride scene, which sort of makes Wonka look like a serial killer.

Yes, Wilder plays Wonka as a seriously twisted man, but somehow, it totally works — and as the kids fall one by one and leave just Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who is pure of heart and thus deserving of the role as Wonka's heir, Wilder softens his performance (after giving Charlie one last test, that is). Timothée Chalamet brings something special to Willy Wonka, but truthfully, nobody will ever play this character as well as Wilder, who passed away in 2016.

Paul King clearly loves making sweetly whimsical films using amazing special effects that focus on beloved children's book characters — but in 2009, noted whimsy-lover Wes Anderson also took a crack at one of Roald Dahl's characters and did a pretty incredible job. In his stop-motion take on one of Dahl's books, Wes Anderson brought "Fantastic Mr. Fox" to life with superstars George Clooney and Meryl Streep voicing Mr. Fox and Mrs. Felicity Fox, whose idyllic life with their family inside a tree is suddenly endangered by three farmers hell-bent on discovering the small, furry hunters. To further complicate matters, Felicity's nephew Kristofferson Silverfox (Eric Chase Anderson) comes to stay with the family, driving the Fox son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) crazy.

Anderson is known for his regular company of actors that consistently team up with the writer-director, and plenty of his stalwarts, including Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody, are on hand here to give vocal performances; the movie also looks incredible thanks to the stop-motion animation, which is flawlessly done (and which Anderson would return to in 2018 with another film made in the same style, "Isle of Dogs.") At this point, you either like Anderson's extremely specific style or you don't, but still, even Anderson-averse "Wonka" fans should check out this take on a Dahl favorite.

Looking for a fresh take on a character originally played by a different performer in a movie that came out decades ago? "Mary Poppins Returns" should do the trick if you've just watched "Wonka" and are looking for that same specific gambit. Rob Marshall's take on the classic nanny, which came out in 2018, replaces Julie Andrews in the title role with Emily Blunt, who does a fantastic job carrying on Andrews' legacy by marrying the magical caretaker's imperious nature with her nurturing skills. In this sequel, Mary Poppins ends up arriving when her grown-up former wards Jane and Michael Banks (Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw) find themselves in danger of losing the Banks family home thanks to chicanery and deceit on the part of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. Joined by lamplighter Bert (Lin Manuel Miranda), Jane, Michael, and Michael's young children team up with Mary Poppins to stop the repossession of the London dwelling.

"Mary Poppins Returns" is wholesome and sweet, and while it's not quite as transcendently perfect as the original with Andrews, Blunt is genuinely great in the role — as is the supporting cast flanking her. Like "Wonka," the movie offers up a fresh take on a familiar character — and once you stop comparing Blunt's performance to the one that came before her, you'll have an absolutely splendid time.

When you think of Martin Scorsese's body of work — whether it's "Taxi Driver," "The Wolf of Wall Street," or his recent masterpiece "Killers of the Flower Moon" — you probably don't think "family-friendly." There is one movie in the cinephile and auteur's collection of films, though, that's actually totally suitable for all ages, and that's "Hugo," the historical fantasy film Scorsese helmed in 2011.

Shot in 3D, "Hugo" tells the story of the title character Hugo Cabret (future "Sex Education" star Asa Butterfield), an aspiring inventor who lives with his uncle in the Gare Montparnasse train station in Paris after his father dies in a fire. When Hugo's uncle Claude (Ray Winstone), who is charged with keeping the station's clocks in order, goes missing, Hugo takes over his job — but when he meets the local toy store owner's goddaughter Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz), he realizes she possesses a key that can bring his repaired automaton to life. From there, the two uncover a mystery and learn that the automaton belongs to a filmmaker named Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), who has been searching for it ever since his life's work was destroyed in a fire.

Much like "Wonka," "Hugo" introduces us to a young and innovative title character who forges his own path as a creative genius, and again, it's definitely the only Scorsese film appropriate for young audiences. Plus, the movie was nominated for best picture at the 2012 Oscars, in case you overlooked it then — basically, it's an ideal post-"Wonka" watch.