My Review of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory · 1:31am Feb 9th, 2022
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for tonight! This evening, I will be reviewing the 1971 adaption of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” book simply entitled: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as requested by Darth Severus . This is a minor nitpick, but I’m not sure why Mel Stuart decided to name this movie after the central character of the story if he isn’t exactly the main character and it isn’t technically about him either. It focuses on Charlie, so why name this “Willy Wonka”? Anyway, I just watched this movie for the first time recently, and I found it to be quite enjoyable. Although it does have its flaws, it has a lot of passion and heart as demonstrated by the dialogue, the characters, the plot, and the acting.
The story is about a young boy named Charlie who is living in poverty and doesn’t get to enjoy the wonderful chocolate that is ravished by other children at a local store. He resides with his widow mother and his four bedridden grandparents who are fed cabbage soup on a daily basis. However, a worldwide contest involves everyone as the candy man Willy Wonka hides five golden tickets inside chocolate bars so that any five children who manage to find them anywhere may get to tour inside his chocolate factory. Thus, Charlie—one of the five children who discovered one of the tickets—goes on an exciting adventure that may grant him a new opportunity to start a new life for him and his family.
I personally thought Mel Stuart did a good job in adapting the story (albeit his interpretation thereof) into the big screen despite some flaws that are prevalent throughout the movie. Again, I enjoyed this movie but it has a lot of problems.
One of the primary issues with this film is one of the main characters who apparently has gotten a lot of hate from people over the years: Grandpa Joe. I admit that his whole character arch is really poorly written. After taking into consideration his actions and behavior, I realize just how shady he was throughout the whole movie. How the heck was he able to have just enough money for tobacco and yet he was too poor to help Charlie’s mother to take care of the family? Even worse, right after Charlie shows them he got the last ticket, he jumps out of bed and dances around the room with no problem whatsoever despite that he has been bedridden for about 20 years. Was he lying about his condition the whole time? Was he really that selfish to not help his own kin to look for a job so that the mom won’t have to break her back to support the family and feed them?
Furthermore, he often acts like a child whenever he sees some object made of candy or some wall filled with multiple flavors and makes Charlie do something which Wonka explicitly told them not to do. That almost got them killed, and he never apologizes for the wrongs he had done. So yeah, I personally dislike the character as well. Nonetheless, the late Jack Albertson did a good job portraying the character with great acting skills.
As for the five children, most of them were a little one-dimensional to even like. One kid is glutinous, the other loves TV, one girl likes to chew gum, and the other is a spoiled bratty child. Do any of them learn a lesson in the tests they failed to pass? Not at all. Were they funny? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, I was a bit concerned with the fact that most of them could have possibly died but were saved thanks to convenient circumstances.
One last thing: even if some other kid got the last ticket, was there not anything else in the world that could interest Charlie? Was he really out of options in regards to what he wanted to do in life or something to look up to? I get that he was in poverty, but I’m pretty sure there could have been some hobbies that might have interested him besides... well, chocolate.
Despite these issues I’ve mentioned, I did enjoy the overall story that was carried by the late Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka and the decent visuals that accompanied this film. The choreography looks great, the acting is great, and the character development was rock-solid. Willy Wonka is by far the best character in the movie and carried this whole movie in my opinion. I also liked some of his witty lines of dialogue that made me chuckle.
I especially enjoyed the overall message the movie was going for: that even a humble child can do great things despite where he has come from. Humility will lead you to a successful life; although it seems a bit preachy, that was something I got out of it. Also, I did enjoy the musical songs they threw into this movie here and there. The songs that Wonka’s subordinates (Oompa Loompas) sang didn’t feel out of place and annoying. So that was something I particularly liked as well.
Overall, a heavily flawed but enjoyable movie. This gets an 8/10!
Peace!
Thanks for doing this review, and I agree with many of your points. I will say this, this version was much better than the one with Johnny Depp. Also, Grandpa Joe didn't have the money for tobacco, Charlie gave him the money that he'd earned from his paper route, and instead of buying tobacco, he spends it on a chocolate bar, hoping to get a Golden Ticket for Charlie. But yeah, the fact that he was able to dance and sing despite spending a good portion of the beginning bed ridden is weird. And sadly, you're right, none of the other children learned a lesson in this version. In the Johnny Depp version, when they're in the glass elevator, the other kids are leaving the factory and if they didn't learn a lesson, their parents did, like how the spoiled brat's dad had more or less had enough of her and told her the only thing she's getting is a bath. The kids themselves didn't exactly learn the lessons; it was more the parents who learned how to raise their children better. All in all, 8 is an appropriate rating considering some of the weirdness and cringe. I mean Wonka literally threw a winter jacket into a big vat because whatever was in it was too cold.
I really enjoy this movie and is one of those movie I don't mind watching more than once