Unfortunately, this movie fails marvelously. It has such incredible potential. The imagined prequel is consistent with Ronald Dahl's charm and wit. Timothee Chalamet’s performance was sensational. The supporting cast including Keegan Michael Keye, Patterson Joseph, Hugh Grant, Olivia Coleman and Jim Carter were all at their best.

The film falls short with the casting director's (Nina Gold's) attempt to find new talent in a novice actress named Calah Lane who stars in the movie opposite Timothee Chalamet as the character known as Noodle. The character itself is drawn well but the performance is so dreadful by Lane that it single-handedly destroys what could and should have been a classic prequel to Dahls original masterpiece. Lane throws out all her lines without any emotion and spends no time listening to her supporting cast. The writing becomes meaningless and almost immediately you do not find yourself caring about the Noodle character at all. This becomes quickly distracting to any audience member who has an inclination to invest in the story or other characters in the movie. The film completely dies and falls short on this one performance because the character of Noodle is drawn in such a way that her present and future well-being is central to the strength of the story's momentum.

One has to blame the casting director Nina Gold first. Nina Gold's work on projects like Bad Sisters, Game of Thrones and The Crown has been quite exceptional but in terms of finding new talent for this prospective cinema masterpiece just is not consistent with her previous achievements. I would also say that the failure of this film should also fall on Director Paul King's shoulders who also needs to bare the burden of this complete and utter disaster of a decision to put poor Calah Lane in this role and have all of us suffer this miserable performance and ultimately crushing blow to Roald Dahl's reputation as a storyteller and great wit.