Good movie but grossly overrated

Fresh and Exciting

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This film is an absolute masterpiece. I know that term gets thrown around a lot, but it truly is. It tells a simple story with pure imagination and love thrown into it. The characters are all so memorable, with a great cast to back them up, particularly Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket, and Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe. The songs are all magnificent, my favorite being Pure Imagination. The practical effects are groundbreaking even to this day. The ending is perfect, one of the best I've seen in cinematic history, one that leaves you thinking. If you haven't seen it you're missing out. High recommendation to everyone.Oh, and before you ask, the remake is just okay, in my opinion.

This is an old time great musical and fantasy movie with great moral lessons, but don't be mistaken into thinking this is a movie for little children. The extremely creepy scenes and the constant literary references makes the movie appropriate for older kids, maybe teens, and for adults looking to remember what it was like to be a kid and imagining what magical it must be like being inside a chocolate factory.P.S.- The internet meme of Grandpa Joe being a scumbag are totally true. The movie is about Charlie realizing his grandpa is a bad person.

Even though I prefer the more recent 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' as an overall package, the 1971 version has a certain charm that just isn't found in the 2005 film. The original will always go down as the timeless classic, even if the remake outdoes it in just about every area.In the family genre, this film is unrivaled. 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' will always be considered the ultimate family film and for many, one of their favourites growing up. This is an iconic film and one that everybody should watch at least once in their lifetime.

To me this is arguably Gene Wilder's best role. Of all the stuff I've seen him in this is the most indelible performance and character he performed and created for the silver screen. I hope I don't sound like I'm fawning, but the sarcastic quips and baiting he provide in his Wonka character are exacting and just simply laugh-out-loud hilarious.To me this is one of the last of the great non-Disney children's films. Made in a day and age when process shots were expensive and hard to produce, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory rely on the musical trend of the time, but do so successfully I think. So much that I think modern contemporary audiences, most of whom disdain the musical genre, will go along with the numbers as part of the narrative, and not as something meant to draw attention to themselves for the sake of adornment.Even in my middle age I am delighted by this film, and even though I knew the film backwards and forwards like a lot of other adults who saw this film when it first premiered on the big screen in 1971, I still felt a thrill when Charlie has his big moment of luck. I felt like a boy all over again. And when Willy Wonka makes his smiling remarks to the various comments and actions made by his guests touring his establishment, I simply could not hold back my laughter.Even as a teen and 20-something when I saw this film I smiled at both the story and the Wonka character, as well as at Charlie and his family.To me Willy Wonka was made in a time when there was still a kind of understood (all be it tacit) "respect" for the spirit of the ever so repressive rules of the former Hayes' office that had clamped down on a lot of perceived "immorality" portrayed in films. Nobody wants to take their kid to a film with a lot of sex and explicit gory violence. And where everyone has a kind of innate understanding of what is proper and improper, to me Willy Wonka has that kind of essence of truly making a family film, or a G-rated film that can be enjoyed by everyone.The script is intelligent and witty, the child actors are truly marvelous in this, and the leads and supporting cast do their usual exceptional bang up job. And the music isn't half bad either.Colorful, a bit slower paced in terms of editing, but no less full of zest for modern conventional story telling style, Willy Wonka is the kind of film they don't make anymore but should. And kudos to the entire cast, and in particular Gene Wilder for giving us the sly eccentric genius whose quest for character is fulfilled superbly.A great film. Get a copy or stream it for yourself, or with those you love.Enjoy.