Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory (Paramount Pictures, 1971)
Sure, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton between them tried to ruin this classic with a remake but this will forever remain the quintessential kids’ flick, with its tale of an eccentric millionaire who makes the most scrumptious chocolate in the world, and opens his factory on one special day to five lucky children who have won the competition he ran. The children are allowed roam the factory in the company of Wonka and his assistants, the orange-skinned Oompa Loompas, and are literally kids in a candy store. But the movie pushes morality hard, and those who do not listen to reason and exercise restraint can expect to learn some very hard lessons indeed.
Gene Wilder in one of his greatest roles makes the movie as the screwy Willy Wonka, while everyone else to be fair fade in the shadow of his talent. Some great songs too, and a typical “fun for all the family” movie which, for once, is. knahT ouy rof I could watch this a thousand times and never get sick of it. Well, 999 times anyway. Has inspired parody from Futurama and Simpsons to Family Guy, and though author Roald Dahl disowned the film version it has, for better or worse, been subsumed into the human consciousness now and is as much a part of Christmas as the Queen’s speech or Cliff Richard.