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"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" (2023) directed by Wes Anderson is a quirky little Netflix short based on one of the 1977 short story collection's stories written by British author Roald Dahl. It was a bit pretentious and pointless for my taste but it is somewhat clever.

Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a rich man who loves himself more than anything or anyone else. He refuses to marry because he is selfish and does not want to share his fortune. Henry reads an old book which tells of a man who was able to see without using his eyes. Henry masters this ability and ends up changing for the better, using his talents to con casinos out of their cash which he donates to children's hospitals.

So it was an interesting short but to me it felt like it was too proud of itself. I couldn't truly enjoy or appreciate it because everything was so particular and staged. The characters are speaking too fast and they unnecessarily narrate themselves in third person as a stylistic choice. The sets were quite cheap and the stories and adventures the characters would tell were not done justice in these simplistic cardboard box looking locations.

The acting is definitely good and you can expect to be at least somewhat entertained by the performances of the stars here; Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley & Richard Ayoade. I think Roald Dahl is a very interesting person and writer but this film falls somewhat flat for me because it literally felt like a visual novel that was holding my hand way too much. The last negative point I will make here is that there is no actual point or purpose in my opinion, and it is simply a disposable fictional short that you will quickly forget about after. I am treating this as a regular film in terms of my reviewing hence why my hand was forced to be so harsh on it.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is wonderful yes, but is too pretentious and pointless for me to truly recommend. Perhaps if it was longer and under different direction it could have been really great.

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