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Summary: Essential Children's Adaptation
Review: This film, an adaptation of the book of the same title by Roald Dahl, is a blitz through a chocolate factory where the children selected to visit meet a number of quite amusing fates. This a childhood classic, one that every child should see, as it's fun, and filled with classic moments. I can't comment on the DVD, but as a film, it holds its ground among children's movies.
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Summary: I loved this movie as a child back in the day.
Review: This was such a wonderful movie. This is one of the Disney Channel kid movie canons, I remember they showed this movie all the time and I loved every minute of it. I remember every time I watched the film I always had this craving for chocolate (hershey's bar, I wish I had a wonka bar though!), fizzy lifting drinks (7-up, minus the floating) and gobbstoppers (starbust)! "Snauseberries, what...a snauseberry!!" I love it haha! This is a great movie and I'll never get tired of it. I'm showing it to my future kids when I get older.
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Summary: Snozzberries!
Review: In 1969, when I was ten years old and had a very bad flu, my sister plopped herself at the end of my bed and read me the entire book of Roald Dahl's Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in one fantastic sitting. It became my instant favorite. You can believe that two years later I was waiting in line at the theater the day the movie opened. I was thrilled, enchanted, triumphant--my favorite book had become my favorite movie! What can I tell you that you don't already know? That Willy Wonka is a subversive mastepiece? That it's an adult movie for kids? Or is it a children's movie for adults? Doesn't matter, like The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a must-see for every child and every parent.
Rating: 
Summary: A Classic perhaps, but take care with young girls...
Review: This *widescreen* version is a scrumptious edition which corrects some editing flaws apparent in the cropped/fullscreen DVD one. Violet Beauregarde at one point does indeed have her finger up her nose during the boat journey down the chocolate river tunnel. Despite the dated styles in acting, clothes, and music, this musical's appeal has stood up very well (but, hey, look at the 1939 Wizard of Oz for *dated*!). After a recent reading of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, David Seltzer's rework of Dahl's source comes across as not so much an adaptation as an alternate version of the same story. It's tighter and has better dramatic flow than the book. The musical numbers by Bricusse, Newly and Scharf are engaging, not too frequent or cloying, and don't stall the plot. Not Arlen and Harberg, perhaps, but somewhat of a cut above the predominantly wretched pop music of the early 1970s. In an unacknowledged but probably necessary dramatic hiccup, Grandpa Joe sings the important song "I've got a Golden Ticket", which by rights should be rendered by Charlie. But as Peter Ostrum admittedly could not hold a tune (a serious casting flaw), Jack Albertson rises to the occasion and rasps it out just fine. I thinks it's very funny that "Wonka" was originally pitched to Quaker Oats by the movie's producers as a candy-bar-promotion gimmick to be shot on a shoestring budget. The irony is that the movie is so good but that the currently Nestle-produced Wonka-brand candy is so bad. But the movie rises above its base commercial roots and stands nicely on its own. Buy it & see it, while you wait for the remake... HOWEVER.... It is most unfortunate that the only girl role models are such horrid brats! With the book, my 4 year old daughter kept asking about and referring back to Veruca Salt and Violet Beauregarde. But can one say anything positive about those ill-fated characters? At this critical time in her development, when she's looking to women and girls (real and in literature) as role models, the only girls in sight are punished and humiliated for their aggressiveness. I don't begrudge Charlie and his spiritual journey with Grandpa Joe, or his final reward. But there's little in the book or movie of redeeming value for young girls. The underlying message of the movie and the book is that girls have no part in larger adventures and rewards, that men and boys and male Oompa Loompas run the show. Mothers are either shrill, hysterical harpies or passive, feckless shadows.
Rating:
Summary: Better than I remembered (nose picking included)
Review: My wife recently got the full frame (standard) version of this DVD and I watched it with the kids. I don't know why I had such a poor impression of it from seeing it as a kid, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult! Gene Wilder is perfectly cast and the kids (as well as adults) in the movie did an excellent job. In the review before this one, lizardkingjr stated that the nose picking scene with Violet was cut from the widescreen edition. This made me feel better about my wife having gotten the standard version, because the nose picking scene was not removed from that version. I recommend this title for children and adult enjoyment.
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Summary: "So shines a good deed in a weary world." - Willy Wonka
Review: I am reviewing the Widescreen 30th Anniversary version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." It is the product of a massive internet campaign to get this movie released in it's original aspect ratio. Upon receiving this from Amazon, it also marked the first time I'd seen this delightful children's classic as originally projected. If you have never seen this movie or have only seen it in pan & scan, then you really owe yourself to pick this up.
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Summary: Classic Movie, but I have one bone (er, nose) to pick!
Review: I bought the widescreen dvd of this classic family film the other day for my 4-year-old daughter. She loves the film and requests to see it over and over. I still feel some of the warm feelings that I had inside me nearly 30 years ago, when the film first came out in the theaters and then later on commercial television. There are only 3 things that I find objectionable about this dvd: 1. It is *edited*! I recall back in the 1970s-version when Wonka and one of the parents are in the boat and are talking about a candy that allows one to spit in all of the colors of the rainbow, (I think) Violet says, "spitting is such a dirty habit," while her finger is up her nose! Then Wonka says, "I can think of a worse one..." In this dvd, they cut out the picture of Violet with her finger up her nose. 2. Grandpa Joe has a candy bar for Charlie... How did he get it being bed-ridden for over 20 years? Then, when Charlie wins the 5th Golden Ticket, he gets out of bed and sings and dances. Then, later in the film, he advises Charlie to give the gobstopper to Wonka's candy rival (Mr. Slugworth). Grandpa Joe is a very dishonest and unlikable character for lying to the family about being bed-ridden and then wanting to cash out and get the money from Slugworth for the gobstopper when they get rebuffed by Wonka. What an unethical grandpa! 3. They take out Violet picking her nose, but they leave *in* the beheading of a chicken in that crazy tunnel that the boat travels through. Unbelievable! What were the editors thinking? Does anybody know if the widescreen laserdisc has the finger still in the nose? If so, could you let us all know? -- I would buy that copy in a heart beat.
Rating:
Summary: a beautifully colored, dark fairy tale
Review: this is one of my favorite movies of all time - its the most amazingly endearing yet horrifically dark fantasy tales ever. something like two or three years ago i got my first dvd player and my first dvd was willy wonka. i was SO excited. but something was missing.... speacial features. i really wanted to know all about the making of and what the kids were really like and so on.... then they re-released the movie this past year and i was even more excited; all the features i wanted were on it. i finally got it on x-mas and as soon as i had it i popped it in the dvd player... whoever decided to put commentary on the dvd with the kids was brilliant! they were so funny.... it was the most insightful, amusing, and all around worhtwhile special feature i've seen on a dvd. i only love the movie that much more now that i've seen the re-mastered and re-released edition.... thank you so much to the studio for doing this.
Rating: 
Summary: Why waste the money on the full frame version?
Review: This is one of my favorite films but...there is only one reason to buy this DVD. That is if for some reason you are unable to get the Wide Screen Version. This is a magnificent film, probably fits in most boomers "all time favorite" category. I purchased it not knowing it wouldn't be wide screen, I was horrified to see that they panned and scanned this wonderful piece of art. What idiot at the studio decided to do something like that? Buy the widescreen version and enjoy the film the way it was intended to be viewed. Then you will be in a world of pure imagination!
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Summary: Scary movie, not for children
Review: This movie is billed as a children's movie, and most of the other reviewers cite it as a "wonderful, whimsical" fantasy for kids. However, I can hardly believe this movie is good for kids to see. Frankly, the movie is rather frightening. Two aspects, in particular, stand out as disturbing. First, the river boat ride through the tunnel is quite scary. While all the passengers are getting increasingly frightened, Gene Wilder is talking about how the danger is increasing (and "the fires of Hell aglowing"). In the background, there are quick flashes to shock the viewer, such as a chicken getting its head cut off. The second and most disturbing component of the movie are the Oompa Lompas. These are the Wonka factory laborers, and their appearance alone is unsettling (short, green hair, orange face, white eyebrows). What really makes the Oompa Loompas scary are the songs they sing. Right after something bad befalls one of the kids on the tour, the Oompa Loompas starting singing, like they are celebrating the child's misfortune. Although widely touted as a fun film for kids, I think that this movie would only disturb and scare children.
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