Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

When I was a kid, my mom made me sit through this a trillion and one times. It's one of her favorites. I liked it well enough back then, but it's only now that I'm older that I can appreciate the true sinister glory of this movie. It's so deliciously creepy! For those who have to whine about how messed up it is, consider the original "Cinderella." Now that was awful. Willy Wonka is the stranger with a bag of chocolate that parents are always warning their kids about, but what he's really offering is a seductive nightmare in a kaleidescope of candy colors, a cautionary tale told with fairy story whimsy. I got it when I was 5, but the thrill didn't register. "A dirty trick on innocent children?" Some people out there obviously don't remember what it's really like to be a kid. Childhood is full of booby traps and the allure of the forbidden, and that which is evil frequently looks divine. "Willy Wonka" is about giving in and seeing the horrors and delights, the choices and pratfalls on the other side. It's disturbing because it strikes a certain primal chord: freedom and danger are entwined, and people have never wanted to associate children with either.

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".

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

Most excellent works in the arts are seen and enjoyed at a variety of "levels." That is true of this movie in general and of Gene Wilder in specific.

Wilder has been known in the circles of movie creators as a creative genius for many years. Here, his acting ability showcases that genius. To be sure, at the level of good fun for kids and Moms and Dads, he comes through. But writers must have loved his work. Watch for the "look" in his eyes. You will see "changes" in them as he speaks or as he listens to the kids. Those unheard, barely seen changes can be read many ways. And that is the genius. They put more into the lines than the words themselves.

Art should be clearly and quickly understood. It should also be the tool used to make us wonder a bit. Think a little. Or find meaning we didn't see at first look.

In this movie, Gene Wilder's almost imperceptible nuances speak volumes.

"If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it." Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is one of the best children films of all-time. The characters, you all have to adore, even if their annoying or not. The film is about a boy who finds a golden ticket in a Willy Wonka chocolate bar and heads off to see the Willy Wonka factory with his grandpa and other people. Gene Wilder was great as Willy Wonka and his performance was quite funny and actually kind of weird. The kids were all great especially Augustus Gloop, he was hilarious. Overall, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a classic and should be viewed by everyone.

Hedeen's Oulook: 9/10 ***+ A-