Score : 5/10
Year : 1971
Country: USA
Language: English (bits in French, German &
Italian)
Duration: 1h40
Willy Wonka has been a recluse in his factory for years. He announces that five
lucky children, accompanied by one person of their choice, shall be given a
tour of the factory, showing them the trade secrets of his amazing candy ; and
a promise of a lifetime supply of chocolate also entices the public. To determine these lucky winners, Wonka includes give
golden tickets in chocolate bars, dispersed across the world.
A craze race ensues, as everyone wants to win this, at
all costs.
Roald Dahl, on whose story this movie was based, went
as far as boycotting and protesting in front of cinemas, telling people not to
watch it, as his own screenplay was modified and he was extremely unhappy with
the additions to his original tale.
Nonetheless, and despite the addition of songs, which
was a popular thing back then, I like and find this movie entertaining ; a good
diversion that doesn't require much brain power.
The story does include a bit of social commentary
about consumerism, and a moral of the story about gluttony and respecting a
contract which all the children must sign before they go into the factory, but
it doesn't go much further.
The songs are silly, but weave-in those social comments in their lyrics, and
sometimes even a bit creepy.
Most songs are plain silly, really, and the bit with
Charlie's grand-father dancing is really awkward. The one with Charlie's
mom slows the pace down, and should have been cut altogether.
Gene Wilder performs delightfully as a mad scientist through his expression and
demeanor. He requested a couple changes, to add clues right from his
first appearance on screen, additions which I felt were interesting.
My wife told me that the production team hadn't anticipated how badly the
chocolate river would turn in the heat during filming, so at times, the cast
had to play despite the stench and the edit had to use camera-shots away from
their faces - not to show their disgust to often.
Cinematography and special effects are ok, but dated. They are interesting
ones, though : the best two are that a character's color change while also
being inflated & another in shrunk.
I cannot attest to adaptation quality, aside for those
few additions of music and changing the ending, but Willy Wonka remains an
enjoyable movie to watch when you want something lighthearted to entertain and
make you laugh.
Cast:
Michael Bollner, Ursula Reit, Gene Wilder, Leonard Stone, Denise Nickerson, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole, Dodo Denny, Paris Themmen, Peter Ostrum, Jack Albertson
Of note, this movie was adapted again in 2005, respecting more of Dahl's original story, as far as I understand, but I haven't seen it yet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Willy Wonka... in the media
We watched this movie from French dvd edition (zone 2), EAN 7321950145461 (released in 1999), presenting the movie in its original image format 1.85:1 for 16:9 widescreens.
Languages: original English dolby digital 5.1 (movie was in 5.0 surround sound, slightly upgraded here) ; French & Dutch in DPL 2.0.
Subtitles: 12 options for the movie, including English (+SDH) ; French , Italian (+SDH), Arabic, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, German, Romanian, and Bulgarian.
There are no bonuses, and the movie is divided into 40 chapters, with direct access.
Cover is similar to this
Comments
Post a Comment