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Summary: How wonderful the human condition is summed up in one movie.
Review: Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory sums up the human condition in one fell swoop. Through the hopeful eyes of a gentle child and the negative actions and attitudes of spoiled children, uncorrected by their "loving parents", this movie demonstrates the power of what a pure heart and the desire to bless others with the blessings given to you can do for someone who believes that his imagination can become reality. "WE are the MUSIC MAKERS and WE are the DREAMERS of the DREAM."
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Summary: Adventure filled story for all ages
Review: A great adventure filled story about a pour young boy that wins a ticket to a Willy Wonka candy factory and learns a lesson in life he will never forget. With his grandfather they both have the time of their lives.Only one person stands in their way, the grumpy Willy Wonka himself.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding movie for the entire family.
Review: I enjoy this movie as much today at the age of 28 as I did the first time I saw it as a kid. It literally put me in stitches as a child because I was so excited it was on TV. Anyone who has yet to see this movie must see it. Anyone who has forgotten how great it is should see it again.
Rating:
Summary: WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS!!!
Review: Children will melt away when watching it. They are whisked away to a magical factory where there is all the candy in the world. Mr. Wilder transforms even the oldest of people into children while rowing us down the Chocolate River. CHOCOLATEY STUPENDIOUS!
Rating:
Summary: Great story for kids and adults!
Review: I first saw this as a kid and have enjoyed this movie all the multiple times I've watched it since. Gene Wilder's cutting one-liners and the lyrics of the soundtrack are hilarious. The scenes from inside the chocolate factory are absolutely magical, and the characters (especially the oopa-loompas) are truly memorable. Hooray!!
Rating:
Summary: If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it
Review: In 1971, Mel Stuart directed a hilarious musical fantasy entitled "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", based upon the 1964 children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" written by Roald Dahl (1916-1990), who also wrote "James and the Giant Peach" in 1961. The story is about a little boy named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) who works as a paperboy to help his impoverished & widowed mother (Diana Sowle) pay their expenses by working as a paperboy. Living with Charlie and his mother are all four of his grandparents: Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson, 1907-1981), Grandma Georgina (Dora Altmann, 1881-1971), Grandpa George (Ernst Ziegler, 1895-1980) and Grandma Josephine (Franziska Liebing, 1900-2000); none of which have gotten out of bed for twenty years. In the same town where Charlie lives is the famous chocolate factory owned by Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder). One day while Charlie is in school with his strange schoolteacher, Mr. Turkentine (David Battley, 1935-2003), a momentous announcement is made: Willy Wonka has started a contest to win a lifetime supply of chocolate. The entire world becomes crazed with finding the five hidden golden tickets that are hidden in five Wonka chocolate bars. Only the bearer of a golden ticket will have the opportunity to enter the mysterious chocolate factory and obtain the lifetime supply of chocolate. Various children from around the globe find the golden tickets, including Charlie to the amazement of his family. The winning children, and their accompanying adults, enter the most fantastic place that any of them have ever seen; but none of them could have imagined what their actions could merit. The other four children and their accompanying adults include the selfishly whiney Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), Mr. Henry Salt (Roy Kinnear), the conceited Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), Mr. Sam Beauregarde (Leonard Stone), the television-addicted Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen), Mrs. Teevee (Nora 'Dodo' Denney), the gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner) and Mrs. Gloop (Ursula Reit).Memorable scenes in the film include children enjoying the delights of Bill the Candyman's (Aubrey Woods) candy store, Henry Salt's employees searching for a golden ticket, Willy Wonka's first appearance, the edible fantasy room, the invention room, the soda pop room, the golden geese room, the events in Willy Wonka's office and the amazing Wonka-vator. Other memorable characters include Arthur Slugworth (Günter Meisner, 1926-1994), The Tinker (Peter Capell, 1912-1986, newspaper-stand owner Mr. Jopeck (Werner Heyking) and the many Oompa Loompas played by several actors including George Claydon and Marcus Powell, who respectively played "Strutter" and "Horseflesh" in the 1981 film "Time Bandits". The film's very memorable songs were nominated for Best Original Music by the Academy Awards. Each of the songs, along with with my ranking for each, are listed below: * "The Candyman" (5, performed by Aubrey Woods).
* "Cheer-up, Charlie (5, performed by Diane Sowle).
* "(I've Got a) Golden Ticket" (5+, performed by Peter Ostrum & Jack Albertson).
* "Pure Imagination" (5++, performed by Gene Wilder).
* "Oompa Loompa" (5, performed by the Oompa Loompas).
* "Wonderous Boat Ride" (5+, performed by Gene Wilder)
* "Everlasting Gobstoppers/Oompa Loompa", (5, performed by the Oompa Loompas).
* "I Want It Now/Oompa Loompa", (5, performed by Julie Dawn Cole and the Oompa Loompas).
* "Wonkamobile, Wonkavision/Oompa Loompa", (4.5, performed by Gene Wilder and the Oompa Loompas). Overall, I rate the classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. It's a wonderful film that both children and adults alike can watch many times without becoming tiresome, and the film itself is by no means dated. Both the dialog and plot were brilliantly executed and each of the many actors in the film did superb jobs in their roles, especially Gene Wilder. If any producer attempted to film a remake of this film, I couldn't imagine anyone other than Gene Wilder in the role of Willy Wonka.
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Summary: A Great Metaphor for Life
Review: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was my favorite book as a child, this movie remains a favorite of mine even to this day. This film was made back in 1971 and is very simple in its style. The special effects are see-through and campy but the story line is a facinating metaphor for life that is forever timeless in its message. Willy Wonka is the creative genius who becomes a recluse in his chocolate factory because of society and its greed and malice. But he never loses his belief that someone in the world exists who can still believe in imagination and dreams. He finds this person in Charlie, a poor child who lives with his mother and four grandparents in a dirty basement home. Charlie has every reason to become dispirited and negative yet he remains a shining light of great positivity regardless of his circumstances. I suspect his attitude comes from the fact that his Grandfather Joe always supports his dreams, the boy never has to hear the word "can't"! The chocolate factory holds a contest and several children, including Charlie, get invited behind the doors with Willy Wonka. While on tour they are tested with fame, fortune, greed and honesty until one by one they succumb to the failure of a human heart. All except Charlie, who keeps a smile on his face and wonder in his eyes while being faced with the simple adversities that cause the other children to fail. Sadly I feel the parents are to blame creating children who thrive on material wealth, constant TV watching, gorging on food, and looking for constant attention. The parents of the children who fail refuse to believe in the dream of Willy Wonka surrounding the atomsphere with doubt and negative beliefs. How could anyone survive under such circumstances? The Chocolate Factory is filled with wonder, color and silly songs. Regardless of your age it will satisfy your sweet tooth and fill even a hardened heart. It certainly brings to life how parent's affect their children with their own actions and attitudes. Telling a child they "can't" accomplish all that they imagine only assists in stopping the world from greatness. Don't be afraid to dream!
Rating:
Summary: Still a great one!
Review: OK, I know you are saying to yourself, that movie is ancient ~ my kid wouldn't enjoy it. Well, trust me your kid will enjoy it. It is a great movie! For all who may have missed it over the years (is there anyone out there?), the story is about a giant chocolate factory run by a never seen owner (Wilder). Over the years of the factory's operation he has become quite the legend. He decides to open the factory to a few lucky winners of a contest ~ all but one of the winning kids are truly rotten. And as all good stories go, the bad kids get their just "desserts" (sorry, couldn't resist the pun) leaving the good kid to win. A lot of good lessons taught about sharing, greed, gluttony and theft. Pop some popcorn and enjoy it with your kid; you'll be glad you did.
Rating: 
Summary: Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker. ;)
Review: 1971's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" is a colorful cult classic that includes both a witty score and a morality tale. Based on the children's novel by Roald Dahl, the story concerns Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), a poor yet virtuous paperboy who dreams of a better life. With no father, no money, and four bedridden grandparents to support, Charlie's future seems bleak. However, that changes when a contest is started by the town's mysterious candymaker, Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder): 5 Golden Tickets are hidden among the billions of Wonka bars sold all over the world. The lucky buyers who find the tickets will get a lifetime supply of chocolate AND an exclusive tour through the factory. The first half of the movie shows the worldwide hysteria that results from the frantic search for the Tickets. Eventually, four winners are revealed one by one: Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole) is Great Britain's ultimate spoiled brat. Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner) is a chubby German who considers eating his most favorite hobby. Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson) bears the rude, disgusting habit of constantly chewing gum. Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen) is a cowboy couch potato who bears a distorted view on reality. When Charlie himself discovers the final ticket, he and his Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) both enter the factory to savor the marvelous surprises awaiting them. However, temptation comes into play: Wonka's sinister rival Arthur Slugworth (Gunter Meisner) has offered each of the children $10,000 in exchange for an Everlasting Gobstopper, a brand new product Mr. Wonka was working on.
In the latter half of the film, viewers will meet Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka, whose elusive persona and literary quotes make him strangely appealing. Is this man lying or is he telling the truth? In addition, audiences (old and young alike) will catch the delightful sights of orange-faced Oompa-Loompas, a nightmarish Boat Ride, Fizzy Lifting drinks that cause drinkers to float away, and quadruple-size Geese that lay octruple-size eggs! Throughout the journey, the group's four nasty children (and their equally despicable parents), are eliminated one by one in gruesome yet amusing ways: The gluttonous Augustus falls into a chocolate river and is sucked into a boiler. Violet samples a 3-course-dinner gum (despite Wonka's warnings) and inflates into a gigantic blueberry. When Veruca Salt attempts to steal a Golden Goose, she falls into a garbage chute, one that happens to lead down to the furnace! After trying to get photographed onto Wonka's giant T.V. camera, Mike Teevee is shrunk down to the size of a pen; the only way to restore his size is by stretching him out on a taffy-pulling machine! With imaginative sets, clever confections, and pleasant tunes like "Candyman," "Pure Imagination," and "Cheer Up, Charlie," this movie was made to entertain adults first and children afterwards. It's a guilty pleasure to college graduates, much like H.R. Puffenstuff.
I chose to give this film four stars because I felt that a couple of mistakes were made. For one thing, the nature of Wonka's factory is a little too candy-coated; Roald Dahl himself wanted to have the story as a Grimm fairytale, not a wholesome musical. Also, I personally think that the scene involving the Wonkamobile should have been cut out. The device, which is fueled by gingerale, gingerpop, gingerbeer, and double-bubble burp-a-cola (among other carbonated fluids), really doesn't have anything to do with the story. As a result, it's a little too distracting.
Now that Tim Burton plans to reimagine the tale, I am gleefully anticipating what alterations he plans to make.
Rating:
Summary: A classic family film, a gem for kids old and young.
Review: In an age where it's becoming increasingly difficult to find films that are truly kid-friendly, it's nice to be able to fall back on classic movies like this one. I watched this over the weekend with my 8-year old son, who saw it for the first time (it was my third or fourth viewing). He enjoyed it immensely, but I also didn't mind making a little diversion into the world of "pure imagination" for a while.
For those poor few sheltered souls who have never seen the movie, it's all about young Charlie's dream to break free from his life of poverty in London and experience every kid's fantasy -- winning a tour of the world famous Willy Wonka chocolate factory to meet the mysterious Willy Wonka himself (played by Gene Wilder). Oh, there's also the matter of a lifetime supply of chocolate. Charlie is a character of pure, unselfish heart who never lets go of hope even in the face of overwhelming odds. He stands in stark contrast to the greedy, self-centered children (and their parents) who join Charlie on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure, and who provide wonderful object lessons about how NOT to be.
The story is replete with song, color and fantasy as Willy Wonka takes Charlie and the others on a great adventure through his chocolate factory. Pure imagination is the order of the day, and strange wonders await behind every door. Willy Wonka can be described as eccentric, to say the least, but his philosophy can be summed up in his simple statement -- "We are the music makers; we are the dreamers of dreams." Gene Wilder does a marvelous job bringing this character vividly to life.
If you've never seen this one, by all means do, and make sure your kids are with you. It's more fun when the grown-up kids and the not-so-grown-up kids share the experience. "Willy Wonka" is destined to remain a classic.
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