My Movie Review on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Greetings, my friends.
This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
Here's the rundown of this tale:
Charlie is a young boy with a kind and noble heart whose family is struggling to make a stable living. He deeply wants to find a way to help his family have a better life but he can't figure out how to do so.
However, when famous candyman, Willy Wonka, announces that he'll be hiding five golden tickets inside of five separate chocolate bars, the entire world goes bananas. To top it all off, whoever finds a ticket gets to have a tour of Willy Wonka's candy factory and a life time supply of chocolate.
With this happening, Charlie finds himself with a chance to finally help his family and have a brighter future.
Will Charlie find one of the golden tickets? Or will he sadly not be among the lucky children?
What's more, what is Willy Wonka himself aiming to accomplish with his golden tickets? And what sort of secrets and surprises does his factory hold?
This was another movie that I was proud to watch since I was a child, really. I once read that the author of the actual book, Roald Dahl, apparently disliked this movie despite screenwriting for it. The same apparently being with his family.
To be honest, though, I really can't see why. Even today, I find this movie to be an all-out masterpiece!
For instance, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were wonderful. I mean, yes, Augustus, Mike, Violet, and Veruca were extremely bratty and their parents weren't the most tolerable, but I can also tell that it was obviously intended.
Charlie and Grandpa Joe were some of my favorite characters, I'll tell you guys that. The two of them were just so lovable, and the bond they share with one another and the rest of their family was deeply heartfelt. Along with that, Peter Ostrum and Jack Albertson did a brilliant job portraying their characters.
In addition, Gene Wilder was absolutely amazing in the role of Willy Wonka. When I read about the number of other people who were considered or wanted the role of Willy Wonka, especially Peter Sellers, I was so astounded. In all honesty, though, as I watched Gene Wilder portray the character I found myself thinking that this role was made for him. I loved how into the character Wilder appeared to be, the personality and sense of humor he incorporated, and the gigantic amount of unpredictability he gave Willy Wonka.
The direction by Mel Stuart, and the screenplay by Roald Dahl and (uncreditably) Jim Seltzer, was incredible!
It's been years since I read the actual book, and I really wouldn't mind taking a look at it again someday. But, after reading the summary of the story on Wikipedia, I found the film to be surprisingly faithful to the book. From the summary alone, the only change I noted was the part with the squirrels being changed to geese and how Veruca and her father end up in the garbage chute. I found the change to hardly matter, though. Along with that, the musical numbers gave the film a great sense of fun, and there was a brilliant amount of humor, wit, heart, emotion, and morality to help the film be full of life.
Finally, the music score and songs by Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, and Walter Scharf were splendid! They may not be strong enough to give Disney's "Mary Poppins" a run for its money, but the songs were fun to listen to and appeared to have been given a lot of thought. Aided by surprisingly mighty melodies, it felt like the film would've suffered without the musical numbers.
In conclusion, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is an instantly delightful treat that's worth trying out, and watching it recently made me feel as if I was reliving my childhood. Whatever reasons that Roald Dahl and his family didn't like the film are ones that I seriously can't see, because I thought this film was perfect.
So, I rate "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" five out of five stars.
