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Willy’s Wonderland is a 2021 action-comedy movie starring Nicolas Cage. Upon its release, many fans noticed the similarities between the movie and the popular game franchise Five Nights at Freddy’s. In the past, many have even taken to social media to call Willy’s Wonderland a blatant rip-off of Scott Cawthon’s creation. However, upon watching, it’s clear that the sheer wackiness that Willy’s Wonderland presents is something that sets it apart from Freddy’s. I mean, Nicolas Cage beating up animatronics with gratuitous violence? What more could one ask for honestly?
The movie Willy’s Wonderland is an expanded feature-length film inspired by G.O. Parsons’s short film Wally’s Wonderland. After being delayed by the pandemic, the movie eventually came out with a limited theatrical run. The movie barely passed its production budget at the box office, but now it seems to have its own cult following. It’s currently available to stream on Hulu.
In the film, Nicolas Cage plays a lone driver whose car suspiciously breaks down in a rural town. Out of money, he has no choice but to clean up an abandoned children’s entertainment center per the mechanic’s request. However, as the night goes on, he finds himself fighting against Satanic animatronic mascots that don’t take kindly to new workers.
Sounds eerily similar to Five Nights at Freddy’s, right? However, Willy’s Wonderland scarves a space of its own as a fun, ultraviolent ride that fans of the gaming franchise can enjoy as more of an action vehicle littered with dark humor.
Why Willy’s Wonderland Is Different Than Five Nights at Freddy’s
Because there’s no overarching storyline that builds up to something, Willy’s Wonderland has the opportunity to be whatever it wants to be. Though the upcoming Five Nights movie looks undoubtedly good, it still has the chance of coming under scrutiny for not following the established lore that Cawthon developed. Director Kevin Lewis and writer G.O. Parsons, however, were free to shape Willy’s Wonderland into whatever they fancied. And the result is a wild Nic Cage performance that has him slaughtering the possessed animatronics in humorous ways. This deviates from the pure horror trappings of the Five Nights series.
Nicolas Cage is entirely mute throughout the 89-minute runtime. His character is only known as ‘The Janitor.’ But at the same time, he doesn’t need to speak and is amazingly committed to not doing so. You don’t need to know anything about him to have a good time. What really stands out is how bizarre Cage’s character truly is. He doesn’t respond to the demonic animatronics with fear but is instead completely unphased. As long as they don’t get in the way of him chugging his energy drinks or playing pinball during his breaks, he doesn’t really care what they do. Of course, as soon as one pops up to annoy him, he demolishes them. In regard to his character not speaking in the movie, Nicolas Cage answered users on Reddit in an ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread. He said,
“The dialogue for my character in Willy’s Wonderland was very sparse, so I decided with Kevin, the director, to go full Harpo Marx and take all the dialogue out because I thought that would be a fun acting challenge to see how much I could communicate without words and only with movement and facial expressions. I’m very happy with the results of Willy’s Wonderland. It was a good experiment.”
So Why Will Fans Like the Movie?
While Willy’s Wonderland has the misfortune of being considered by some to be a Five Nights at Freddy’s rip-off, there’s enough of a difference between the two that it can stand on its own. For really hardcore fans of the concept, think The Hug (2018) or the horror adaptation of The Banana Splits Movie (2019).
There’s also another aspect of the plot that’s important. There’s a group of teenagers led by Liv (Emily Tosta) who are set on burning down Willy’s Wonderland. But first, they have to go inside and save the janitor. Like many horror movies, the teenagers are picked off one by one by the animatronics. It gives the movie a vintage horror feel, but it’s arguably unnecessary in the grander scheme of things.
While the movie might not be groundbreaking, it does what it’s supposed to do: entertain. The plot is simple, the action is violent, and there’s just enough explained that you don’t have to question anything. Instead, it allows you to turn your brain off and just enjoy Nicolas Cage beating up deadly animatronics. It might give fans of the actual Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise a much-needed laugh or two after losing so many times (looking at you, Security Breach).