Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Review

Willy Wonka famous for his chocolate bars and sweets has been a recluse for years and he suddenly announces a Golden Ticket competition. The five people who find them will be invited into his chocolate factory for the day. One of them ends up being Charlie, a very poor little boy who appreciates every second of it.

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This is such a classic film that it is actually going to be hard to do it all justice in this review. I always forget that it has so many catchy songs and incredible moments, which show us that we should always expect the unexpected. Especially when it comes to Willy Wonka played so incredibly by the legend that is Gene Wilder.

It takes 44 minutes for him to appear for the first time, which I hadn’t really remembered so he is only in half of the film! Which is pretty incredible when he is all you remember and think about when it comes to this film. It is an outstanding performance. His wit, humour timing and facial experiences all show why he was truly the best in the comedy genre, but still managing to have a very serious edge at times.

I mean I have no idea how many times I have seen this film over the years but re-watching it again I totally loved Wonka even more. The little comments he makes about the nasty and spoilt children is still something that is true to this day! Showing that some parts of life really do not change at all. Probably wouldn’t even be allowed to have them in films now with the way things have gone.

The musical moments of the songs certainly do come at perfect times and come on ‘Pure Imagination’ is a truly outstanding moment. If you listen to the words in that song, don’t we all want to be in the world really? Well, I certainly do it sounds much more fun than reality! Roald Dahl certainly had a knack for coming up with wacky and wonderful things, even better than he wrote the screenplay for the film. Shows that it came from his imagination as well. I think we need more make-believe back in our film world, some franchises have gone very serious.

The messages the film sends about behaviour is something that could well be used, I mean we are shown many different traits in the children and they were all tested early on with loyalty and being able to enjoy the special experience. Even more interesting to compare them to the parents and that certainly answers a lot! I find that amazing to remember the film is from 1971!!! I guess society really hasn’t learnt anything over the years.

I could be looking at parts of this in a rather different and pretty deep way but that was just how I was feeling watching it this time. If that was intended as part of the message at the time that is pretty impress that it has stood the test of time! We all would love to win one of those Golden Tickets still to this day!