Willy Wonka au pays enchanté

The world goes on chocolate overdrive when it's announced that famed candy maker, Willy Wonka, has put five golden tickets in his Wonka Bars. The lucky recipients of these tickets will be treated to a day out in the top secret Wonka factory, where they can see how the sweets are made, and if they are even luckier, they will get a lifetimes supply of free chocolate. Nobody wants a golden ticket more than Charlie Bucket, from a desperately poor family, Charlie has learned to accept his heritage with a grace and credibility not befitting most other children. So when a miracle upon miracles happens, and Charlie finds a golden ticket, it just may prove to be a turning point far beyond his wildest dreams.

They say that true love lasts a lifetime, so shall it be the case with Willy Wonka and myself. As a child I was captivated by the colours, the dream of myself being able to visit a magical place where sweets and chocolate roll off the production line purely for my ingestion. Songs that I memorised back in my youth have never left me, and now as a considerably middle aged adult male, I can still embrace, and feel the magic, whilst enjoying the darkly knowing aspects of this fabulous and wondrous black comedy.

Roald Dahl was quite a writer of note, and thankfully the makers here have brought his astute morality tale to vivid cinematic life. Director Mel Stuart, aided by his screenwriter David Seltzer, even manage to add to Dahl's wonderful story courtesy of a sinister outsider, who apparently in the guise of a rival corporation, will pay handsomely for a Wonka top secret, morality, greed and power all coming together in one big chocolate explosion. The greatest gift that Willy Wonka gives, tho, is that of the set designs and art direction, where in an almost hypnotically drug induced colourful world, Wonka's factory is a child's dream come true, however, peril is at every turn as life's lessons dolled out courtesy of the scarily cute Oompa Loompas.

Songs are provided by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricuse, with the sumptuous art coming from Harper Goff. Gene Wilder takes the lead role of Willy Wonka, magnetic and bordering on clued in madness, Wilder takes his rightful place in the pantheon of memorable performances performed in fantasy pictures. But ultimately it's the story and the way it appeals to every age group that makes Willy Wonka a prize treasure, the kids love it, while the adults watching with them will be wryly nodding and trying to suppress the onset of a devilish grin.

Pure magic is Willy Wonka, see it now in High Definition TV to fully realise the dream/nightmare on offer, oh oh I love it so. 10/10

It's Gene Wilder, at the top of his form, who made this unique imaginative adventure more vibrant and gleeful. His energetic performance is by no means different from Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins. He absolutely deserved ,at least, an Oscar nomination. The movie lost some of its sharpness and suffered from some monotony after some time from reaching the factory. But besides the gorgeous production design and cool visuals, there was Wilder's charisma that helped to elevate the movie. The first half of the movie has great emotional value, and established the characters very well. Also, it feature some of the most beautiful songs of the movie. But due to the fast pacing, there was an action in the first half that felt forced, if it was necessary to serve a turning point of the story.

There are many powerful and very important messages in the movie. But the greatest thing about them is not actually the messages themselves, as we witnessed them delivered in a lot of movies before, but it's how genuine these messages seem as they are delivered in this particular story. Peter Ostrum is great in his first and ,unfortunately, his last role. There are many dramatic scenes that required a very good actor and he is. Actually, I didn't feel for even a moment that this is his acting debut. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a total blast from start to finish. It's Scrumdiddlyumptious!

(8.5/10)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a truly magnificent piece of filmmaking and remains one of the most fascinating and wonderful adventure films ever made. One of the things that makes this film so intriguing is that it could have been made at any time. I mean, just from watching it, you can't really tell when it was made. It has been one of my favorite films for almost 20 years now, and it wasn't until today that I actually realized when it was made. Watching it again last night, I had convinced myself that it was made sometime in the early to mid 80s, and I was shocked to find out that this year is the movie's 30 year anniversary. Until now, pretty much the only movie I associate with 1971 is A Clockwork Orange, and it's just strange for some reason to find out that this classic movie was made so long ago.

At any rate, Willy Wonka is a tremendously imaginative and inspiring film. It's a family film, but one of the most important aspects of a family film is that it has to be enjoyable for a variety of ages. This is what makes movies like Toy Story and Shrek such huge successes- the adults will love it just as much as the kids are sure to. Hence: `family' film. On the other hand, this is also the downfall of such other movies that are strictly for a much younger audience, like Cats & Dogs. The makers of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory understood this very well, and you can see that just by the way that the cast is divided. Here are all of these kids (funny how it was only kids who found those golden tickets…) who were at this candy factory, and they had each elected to bring one of their parents with them as the one admissible member of their family who was allowed by Wonka to accompany them to the factory.

One of the best elements of this film is the excellently written script and, even more, the songs. These are some of the best songs in any movie ever made, rivaling even the best of the songs from Disney's films (hey, some of them are really good…). There are, of course, some exceptions, such as `Cheer up, Charlie,' which I have been fast-forwarding through for as long as I can remember, but for the most part, the songs are fun to listen to and they pertain to life outside the movie. They are not just songs about the candy-making genius of Willy Wonka or the excitement of being able to tour his mysterious factory, but they are about life in the real world. They're about believing in yourself and being motivated in life (`Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world, there's nothing to it…'), but there are also some that have to do mostly with the movie but are still just as enjoyable, such as the classic song that Wonka sings in the tunnel on board his boat (curiously named `Wonkatania'), which was creepily covered by Marilyn Manson a couple of decades later.

The dialogue in the film contains some of the most interesting little tidbits in the entire movie. Wonka's lines, in particular, are wonderfully strange and amusing (`A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.'). He is a truly eccentric and fascinating man, and Gene Wilder captures the character flawlessly, as he delivers the lines from the brilliantly written script. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of those rare movies that comes along and completely changes the way that fantasy films are made. It's all about having fun in life and being hopeful against all odds and, most of all, being able to have fun in life. There are times when you have to let things go for a while and just act like a kid. Eat candy, run around and play, steal fizzy lifting drinks and bump into the ceiling that now has to be washed and sterilized, it doesn't matter as long as no one's looking. That's such a trivial little quirk of Wonka's (who sterilizes their ceiling?) that it becomes obvious that the movie is trying to say that it's okay to break the rules every once in a while. Have fun in life.

Besides being absolutely mouth-watering (to this day, I still fantasize about sinking my teeth into one of those gigantic gummy bears), the movie is an uplifting adventure that warms the heart and sends people of all ages away with fairy tale candies dancing in their heads and wonderful songs just behind their lips. It is an always-welcome vacation from reality for people of all ages, and it should always be remembered and loved for that. This movie will ALWAYS be a must-see.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: ****

"Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" is a wonderful movie that should be viewed by everyone. It is one of my personal favorites.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is about a poor boy named Charlie (Peter Ostrum). His life is horrible. But one day, he hears the news that Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) is sending out five golden tickets and then letting the winners go into his factory. The first four winners are Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner), Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), and Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen). Charlie then wins the fifth golden ticket by luck.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is visually stunning and cleverly written. The songs are remarkable. The whole movie is a fun journey through the chocolate factory. It is very enjoyable, fun, and clever. The scenery and props are eye candy.

The most underrated character in the movie is Mr. Turkentine. He is only in three scenes, but everytime he is on screen he is hilarious. I love the quote: "I've just decided to switch our Friday schedule to Monday, which means that the test we take each Friday on what we learned during the week will now take place on Monday before we've learned it. But since today is Tuesday, it doesn't matter in the slightest." He is very, very funny.

Julie Dawn Cole plays Veruca so well. She is so bratty and she is one of those characters that you hate so much you love them. Roy Kinnear (who will be missed) is hysterical as her father. The whole movie is funny in it's own odd and strange way. It is a classic that will be treasured for many years to come.

All the ideas that Rould Dahl puts into his book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" are here in an imaginative visual form appropriate to the time it was made. A lot of attention was paid to the sets and visual effects, clever special effects such as a trap door and miniturization testify to the care that the producers put into making this movie. The theme of the movie is difficult for adults. There are bad children in the world. They come from bad parents, they're not created by emulation, but rather the parents "produce them", much like chocolate is produced in a factory. The factory is populated by miniature people named oomphaloopas that remind the listener at intervals of Dahl's moral points: Too much TV is bad for children, books should be read instead, and children need to adhere to an ethical code of some sort in order to grow up strong. And who knew Gene Wilder had such a beautiful singing voice! The music is some of the best show music of it's time, including "The Candy Man".