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Recently, I have introduced Lucas to one of his movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is a re-make of the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Both films were based on the 1964 children’s book written by Roald Dahl.

The movie stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddy Highmore as Charlie Bucket.

I love Johnny Depp. I loved him the first time I saw him in Nightmare on Elm Street and I have loved him ever since. He is such an awesome character. Although he’s famous for portraying oddballs, I love him still, because he can look all gross, creepy and weird and yet he’s still hot.

All the Oompa Loompas, even Doris , in this movie was played by English actor Deep Roy. Imagine playing 160+ people with different personalities, how cool is that right?  

MY TAKE ON THE FILM:

I love anything Johnny Depp, I was super happy that the kids liked this movie too. I like this better than the 1971 version, that old one creeped me out a bit and it’s not really that fun to watch. The music in this version was way better and what can I say, Johnny Depp made it awesome.

Johnny Depp aside, I think that this movie is worth owning on DVD, it’s just something that is good to watch over and over again, if not for the moral values your kids can pick up (Moral Lessons: Don’t be a brat. Listen to your parents. Bad things happen to bad kids. Family is more important than any kind of wealth.), at least for the catchy songs (a rather different set of friends, a rather different set of friends..).

THE FILM:

The story starts when Willy Wonka sends out 5 Golden Tickets hidden in his famous chocolate bars, the tickets will allow 5 children accompanied by their parents to have a tour of his chocolate factory and have a chance to win a special prize at the end of the tour.

Charlie Bucket belongs to a poverty stricken family. His grandfather, told him about Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory because he used to work in the factory himself. He told Charlie about the other companies sending in spies to steal Willy Wonka’s recipes and so he was forced to close the factory to the public. It has been 20 years since someone has been into the factory so everyone was pretty much excited and curious about why Willy Wonka has decided to invite people in once more.

5 tickets means 5 kids accompanied by one of their parents or a guardian.

Charlie Bucket was lucky enough to have one ticket. At first he considered selling the ticket to help his family, but one of his grandfathers convinced him not to let go of this once in a lifetime opportunity. So Charlie Bucket went to the factory with his grandfather who used to work in the factory.

One by one the kids started to meet some troubles in the factory and they had to be escorted out.

Augustus Gloop, the big fat nincompoop, fell into the chocolate river because of his greed and was sucked up by the huuge tubes.

Violet Beauregarde, the girl who chewed gum all day, chewed herself an experimental gum, despite several warnings, she ended up blowing up into a big purple blueberry and had to be rolled out of the room to have the juice squeezed out of her.

Veruca Salt, the litte brat, insisted she wanted a trained squirrel from Willy Wonka’s nut sorter rooms, when it was denied to her, she still insisted, she climbed over the railing and chose a squirrel to claim as hers. The squirrels restrained her and examined her, the squirrels decided she was a bad nut and threw her down the garbage chute.

Mike Teavee, the boy who watches too much television and who thinks he knows it all, ends up shrunk when he jumped into an experimental machine devised by Willy Wonka to send chocolate over through the television and straight into the homes of the viewers, telling Willy Wonka he was an idiot for not realizing that he has invented a teleporter. He was wrong.

Finally, only Charlie Bucket was left.

Willy Wonka intends to give Charlie his chocolate factory when he passes and works with him to create new cadies and chocolates in the meantime. But it would mean he would leave his family behind. Charlie refused. Willy Wonka was shocked and left.

After brewing over it, Willy Wonka decides to visit Charlie again and ask him why he won’t leave his family behind. Charlie helps him with his issues and visits his father for the first time in a very long time. They finally reconcile and Willy Wonka decides to allow Charlie to bring his family with him into the factory.

And they lived happily ever after…