Written by Sam Niles
Willy’s Wonderland takes place in a town at the mercy of possessed animatronics. These animatronics don’t necessarily walk about like some carnivorous secret police, but stick to the abandoned, titular children’s restaurant. To make sure they don’t walk about the town like some carnivorous secret police, though, its residents con outsiders into staying overnight at the restaurant as a sacrifice.
This leads to two primary stories in the film. The first centers on Nicolas Cage, who never speaks a word and is credited only as The Janitor. When his car breaks down in the town, he becomes its next con, their next sacrifice, where he’s told all he has to do is spend the night cleaning Willy’s Wonderland and he can pay off his car’s repairs.
The second story focuses on Emily Tosta’s Liv, a girl who, with the help of her friends, wants to burn and be rid of that damned restaurant once and for all. There’s a contrast of both emotional investment and competence between The Janitor and Liv (or at least her friends). Liv despises what these animatronics do to people and the fact that the town is complacent with it. She’s willing to risk her life to kill these deceptive, hellbound robots.
The Janitor, on the other hand, is a man who just wants to get the job done. Most of his scenes range from stylishly shot and edited montages of him cleaning to brutally efficient disposal of Willy’s crew. Both are given the same passion from a man who’s trying to get the job done. He doesn’t even respond with shock when he comes across/has to kill the first of Willy’s crew. Just exertion and rage in self-defense. Even when Liv and her friends try to get him out so they can torch the place and be rid of it forever, he pays little mind to their impassioned pleas. Unfortunately, that the contrast of emotional investment between the two subplots will lead to a contrast of emotional investment on the viewer’s part.
When the film focuses on Cage slaying animatronics and cleaning the restaurant, it’s a joy. Beautifully shot and scored, the cleaning montages are both energetic and relaxing, whereas the animatronic-slaying is pure energy. But when the film shifts to the teens, it almost comes to a screeching halt.
To be sure, there’s nothing wrong with the contrast the film goes for. To underline the silent Janitor’s efficiency and indifference with highly verbal and very passionate characters could have been an effective decision script-wise. But the film fumbles the ball by saddling these other characters with two exposition dumps, limited personality, and what seem to be (failed) attempts at satire.
Take the scene when the couple Bob (Terayle Hill) and Kathy (Caylee Cowan), two of Lily’s friends, are trapped in Willy’s and trying to escape, go off to have sex. You’re probably not surprised to learn that a couple goes off to have sex in this monster movie. You can also probably guess what happens to them. But it’s….not funny! It’s difficult to describe it as anything else. There’s just…nothing particularly funny about it. It doesn’t go far enough with the absurdity of the situation and more or less plays it straight. And if you’re not laughing at this, then you’re annoyed at how long it’s stretched out.
As for Lily’s other friends: there’s not much to say there either. The only reason you can distinguish them on an emotional investment level is because I *think* one of them, Chris, is her boyfriend. As for the others, they exist to be slaughtered and little else.
Once more, there’s nothing wrong with the intention behind this contrasting subplot. But rather than highlighting The Janitor’s indifference in a comical way, or being an effective satire, it just leads to a sigh of relief whenever he’s back on screen and groans of displeasure whenever he leaves.
It’s a shame, because there are plenty of positives about both the good stuff and the intentions behind the not-good stuff. Willy’s Wonderland could have been a great movie that was just 90 minutes of Cage cleaning, Cage killing, or both. And there could have been a great movie with the setup we have, as the opportunities afforded by the opposing subplot are vast. The film just doesn’t make proper use of those opportunities. And while the montages of The Janitor cleaning and preposterous violence are certainly worth these speed bumps, it’s best for viewers to be aware of them before spending $20.Â
