Cosm turns 'Willy Wonka' into a multisensory experience — putting you in the chocolate factory

We are astatine the dawn of the epoch of “experimental cinema.”

At slightest that is the transportation by entrepreneurs specified arsenic Jeb Terry of Cosm and James Dolan of Sphere, whose domed venues person embraced the thought of reviving older films to augment them with caller technologies. Terry utilized the operation Tuesday successful his instauration to a resuscitation of 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” which debuts this week astatine Inglewood’s Cosm with modern, CGI animation, aiming to stress the whimsy and childlike wonderment of the Gene Wilder picture.

“Wonka” is the sophomore effort by Cosm to redefine the moviegoing acquisition — “The Matrix” got the Cosm attraction past summertime and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” volition travel adjacent year. Seeing a movie successful what the venue calls “shared reality” tin beryllium all-encompassing and yet intimate arsenic good arsenic communal and, if everything works out, somewhat thoughtful. The 87-foot diameter spherical surface wraps above, beneath and down us, but an accent connected sofa seating invites a cooperative environment. And guests are encouraged, for instance, to propulsion retired their phones and seizure and stock the moment.

The spherical surface tin springiness the illusion of dimension.

(Cosm)

It’s bully fun, if you don’t instrumentality it excessively seriously, arsenic experiential, successful the lawsuit of “Wonka,” means a movie dedicated to the powerfulness of imaginativeness sometimes leaves a small little to it. Spirited and bright, Cosm’s attack to “Wonka,” a collaboration with experiential steadfast Secret Cinema and ocular effects location MakeMake, is to guarantee audiences are ne'er not surrounded by oculus candy. The effect is alternately charming and clashing — why, I wondered, isn’t the animation done successful a 1970s benignant to amended complement the film?

In turn, has the film’s caller magic replaced its subtle mystery? Or is that the incorrect question to inquire astatine screenings meant to consciousness similar a societal event, implicit with cocoa tarts filled with peanut food mousse and agleam reddish vodka drinks with golden glitter brackish rims?

“Willy Wonka” is the 2nd Hollywood film, pursuing “The Matrix,” to tally astatine Cosm.

(Cosm)

For this is experiential astatine its astir maximal. Opening credits that unfold successful the movie with streams of chunky cocoa are present accompanied with smoothed-out images that look partially inspired by “Super Mario Bros.,” arsenic tubes and pipes purpose to spot the assemblage wrong a milky-chocolate-pouring factory. It’s cute, and you’ll find yourself diverting your attraction from the framed surface of the movie to instrumentality successful the toy-like animated mechanisms. My lone qualm present was the edges of the filmed footage person been sharpened distant by gleamingly untroubled animation.

Elsewhere, quality reports successful the movie are elongated to amusement america an entire, cartoon-like studio, scenes of galloping children connected the sidewalk unreserved by arsenic added assembly lines churn retired cocoa beneath them and the movie’s archetypal large opus and creation moment, “The Candy Man,” is present surrounded by carnival-inspired visuals with swirling Candy Buttons, slot-machine-like flowers and gentle prods to, if not sing along, astatine slightest rima the lyrics.

“Wonka,” a mean occurrence erstwhile it was released, grew successful stature implicit clip arsenic Sammy Davis Jr. turned “The Candy Man” into a deed and second-run screenings connected tv made it captious at-home viewing for generations to come. It is, astatine times, delightfully demented, a household movie with a weird streak — possibly astatine times adjacent a somewhat sinister one. And yet I went to Cosm’s “Wonky” premiere not arsenic a movie professional but arsenic idiosyncratic funny astir burgeoning movements successful the immersive industry, funny much successful however Cosm could usage its tech to enhance, revitalize oregon find ways to illuminate a second-run film.

At Cosm, erstwhile Charlie discovers his aureate ticket, integer fireworks erupt.

(Cosm)

Illuminate is simply a cardinal word, arsenic erstwhile young Peter Ostrum arsenic Charlie unwraps a candy barroom with the much-sought-after aureate ticket, the animated images astir the framed surface erupted successful fireworks. I retrieve watching that country arsenic a kid and feeling a spot tense, fearing, perhaps, the summons would beryllium snatched from him by the assemblage that consumes him. Yet Cosm aims to crook “Wonka” into axenic joy. Such a infinitesimal was a reminder astatine however overmuch sway implicit the affectional tonality of the movie specified supplemental worldly tin possess.

In that sense, the immersive ambitions of Cosm disagree from experiments of the past — interactive dalliances successful the ’90s that precocious lived again connected Netflix (see “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”), oregon much caller 4DX theaters with movement-enabled seats (see the light, h2o and upwind effects of “Twisters”). Perhaps that’s wherefore what I thought worked champion leaned much abstract, when, say, cartoonish cityscapes gave mode to black-and-white pencil-like effects, oregon erstwhile the animations played up the wackiness of Wonka’s mill alternatively than effort to soma it out.

A whimsical country featuring the Oompa Loompas.

(Cosm)

I was distracted, for instance, erstwhile Wilder’s Wonka made his expansive limping entrance, arsenic the sheepish gathering down him was present dwarfed by sparkly, shiny warehouses. Yet I was transfixed erstwhile Wilder’s quality adjacent the extremity was framed amid blindingly accelerated streaks of light, oregon erstwhile the helper Oompa Loompa characters were depicted retired of framework arsenic colorful orbs that looked similar strands of DNA.

I bash consciousness it’s important to enactment that I’m much than 2 decades removed from having seen the archetypal “Wonka.” Fresher successful my caput are much caller cinematic explorations of the worldly and characters. While I chose to revisit “The Matrix” earlier taking that movie successful astatine Cosm, I opted for a antithetic attack with “Wonka,” and I judge one’s likelihood to clasp what Cosm is attempting volition summation exponentially by one’s attachment to the root material. Having forgotten wide swaths of the film, I recovered myself conflicted — ticker the archetypal film, oregon absorption connected Cosm’s accouterments — whereas with “The Matrix,” the worldly was caller connected the caput and I was truthful much comfy to rotation and instrumentality successful the dome’s awesome screen.

And it is impressive, indeed. When Charlie starts floating successful Wonka’s factory, Cosm lifts the framework of the film, surrounding it with bubbles. Soon, depending connected your seat, you whitethorn find yourself looking consecutive up. Cosm’s visuals are truthful crisp that astatine times they tin simulate question and dimension, and we get dizzyingly mislaid erstwhile the characters are trapped successful a seemingly doorless room.

Elsewhere, Cosm takes connected a buoyancy erstwhile Denise Nickerson’s Violet transforms into a bouncy blueberry. Another clever moment: When Charlie’s partition of moving hands is stretched beyond the surface and starts waving to the audience.

It’s successful these instances erstwhile the movie comes alive, and Cosm’s instrumentality connected experiential cinema nary longer feels similar a novelty and becomes an experience.

Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka and Julie Dawn Cole’s Veruca Salt successful “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” arsenic presented by Cosm.

(Cosm)