Only on my list can you go from the crudeness of South Park to the children’s loved and classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Well its happening so lets get too it. Released in 1971 on a budget of $3m it scrapped a profit by making $4.5m at the box office. It is however loved by many more people since then with the critic scoreboard not troubled I will add to my argument that its loved with a matching score from IMDb of 7.8/10 with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a much higher score of 90%. Directed by Mel Stuart the screen play is uncredited to Roald Dahl and David Seltzer and starring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole, Leonard Stone, Denise Nickerson, Dodo Denney & Paris Themmen.
The story tells of a poor paperboy called Charlie who still has a positive take on life despite not having anything of his own. He lives in a town where there is a mysterious sweet factory which is very secretive that no one is allowed in or secrets out. Due to rival sweet makers wanting to steal their ideas. The evil looking and always raining when he’s around Arthur Slugworth is one of the rivals and he wants into the factory, when Willy gives the whole world the chance to see inside. He offers five Golden Tickets to tour the factory which he has hidden in his World famous Wonka Bars. Buy one with the lucky golden ticket within it and you plus two parents are going on the tour. Desperate for a look inside Charlie saves up just to buy a bar. Which he does but he doesn’t have a ticket. Meanwhile the rich and famous have been buying bars galore just to get a ticket with one company stopping production just to have their workers search for a ticket. This is a world wide big deal! Four golden ticket winners are announced meaning one last one remaining when the fifth is claimed. Charlie gets a bar for his birthday but knowing it won’t have a ticket he saves it. The news announces that the fifth ticket was a hoax so on the street he decides to open the bar. You’ll never guess what’s inside. He runs home to tell his family and his grandad who hasn’t got out of bed for years can suddenly jump about and dance and they agree to go to the factory tour together. Arthur Slugworth turns up and explains that he will offer unbelievable riches if he can get hold of the everlasting gobstopper, if Charlie could get one out of the factory for him. The big day arrives and the rest of the winners arrive at the factory gates and they are all spoilt in different ways. One is an only child and gets whatever she wants when she wants it, another just eats chocolate all day and is a bit large because of it, another chews gum all day, the other watches Television all day and then there is Charlie. The factory is magical and the kids are amazed throughout and meet the workers called Oompa-Loompas who end up having to rescue each child as the tour goes on. With each one’s greed getting the better of them including the near death of Charlie when he drinks some lemonade that makes him fly nearly into a fan. He survives and learns not to ignore the advise again.
Ultimately that is it. The film is about a tour of a chocolate factory there is of course a twist but I am not here to ruin that for you. If you haven’t seen this movie then you should. I mentioned way back when in the reviews that Roald Dahl would watch many of the films made from his books and he absolutely loved the British version of his BFG story. Well he hated this movie. Which may explain why he was uncredited for the screenplay as he didn’t want to be part of it. I am not sure of the reasons why but he hated this movie and wasn’t shy of telling people about it. On the other hand I love this movie! The simple reason being that it is a lovely kids movie with a villain that you never really see, with the exception of the beginning. The kids are overly nasty but get their comeuppance during the film which is completed with a song normally from the Oompa-Loompas but it almost feels like the kids are killed off one by one until Charlie is the only one left. How is he going to survive to the end of the movie – no need to worry they are not killing kids in this film they just get into trouble and are removed from the story. They are mentioned at the end saying they are all safe and sent home unharmed. It’s a bit like the wording of ‘No animal’s were harmed…’ at the end of the credits but it seemed to work here. Now what I feel is that this movie has a kind heart and that comes across to me whether that is the movie or the story behind it, I couldn’t tell you. Whether I love this movie and the songs is clear to me yes I love it! Gene Wilder’s performance as Willy Wonka is great even if he didn’t play the one in the book he played it his way and for me it worked. He is a strange comedy actor to me as he doesn’t look like a comedy actor but he makes me laugh every time so I will top my hat to him and give him a well done. I should also mentioned that every time you’ve watched this movie you have watched a young girl get hit in the face with a table top every time. If you need an extra excuse to watch this movie in one of the early scenes in the Candy Man store and song he lifts the counter up to let the kids come and choose their sweets. The counters do go up and down a bit in the song so it’s the last time when the candy man lets the kids behind the counter. There is a girl a little too close to the counter when he lifts it up and she gets a nose full of counter...Wham! You are going to go watch that one bit now aren’t you?
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