Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Widescreen Special Edition)

This is the classic original version of the movie. It still has all the elements that make it enjoyable. Gene Wilder is just zany and scary enough without being too over the top. The "lessons" come across a little heavy handed for today but this doesn't take away from the overall quality of the film.

I was quite impressed with with the HD transfer on this product. Colors are vibrant, edges are sharp and crisp, and there is very little dirt on the print - amazing considering the film is over 30 years old. Bonus features include a commentary by all of the kids in the film who went back and watched the film 30 years later (should be the same commentary as the DVD version released a couple of years back), as well as a few other bonus featurs (all in 480, of course)

So, why did it not get a higher rating? Right out of the package, I had a place in the bonus features where the audio and video suddenly became extreamely pixelated, broke up, and when it started back up - 20 seconds later on the running time on the front of the player, and the audio and video were off sync. This means one of two things - the disc does not have an anti-scratch coating (not required on HD-DVDs, but I have never had a scratch on a new disc freash out of the package), or a flaw in the manufactoring process (possibly a layer transition?) Luckely it was just in the bonus features - I would have been furious if it was in the main movie.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a delicious and sinful movie about believing in yourself through a candy factory of course! Gene Wilder is a hoot as Wonka, his facial expressions are classic. This movie isn't perfect but I still feel this a good adaptation of the beloved book even though people like the newer version better. The songs are addicting and Veruca Salt is the coolest snob ever! One to watch with family. Enjoy!

Order came earlier than described, great shape, packaging was great, no problem. Will use this seller again. 5 star service.

This movie is intensely uneven; 85% is the most fantastic cinematic experience ever bar none. 15% is painfully sappy musical. What is even more amazing than the unevenness is that the Depp remake is half much more literal and faithful to the book, and half completely invented new plot, with one cheap gag worthy of the Zucker brothers (the "flags of all nations" exhibit). What is it about this fantastic work that means that people get most of the way there and then go insane? Could it be that the themes touch too deeply inside us?

Although Depp's performance is also magnificent, Gene Wilder really IS Wonka in a deep (not Depp) way. And he delivers the key lines that get across the film's main lessons...perfectly. He even pulls off a song ("Land of pure imagination") in a way that is touching, dramatically balanced, and empirically justified. And the main lesson comes across: Candy is to children as dreams are to adults. And candy is all about purity--the children are weeded out because they bring greed and selfishness to the realm of candy making. The movie has more of a concession to our wishy-washy morality than Dahl's book (he was never one to shy away from the gruesome death and mutilation of those who deserved it), in that everyone is supposed to turn out all right, but the comeuppance is still a severe one: thou shalt not lie, at least within the candy factory.

For a long time I was troubled by the fact that the film makers introduced this gratuitous scene in which Charlie and his grandpa broke the rules themselves. The whole point of the original was that there were two kinds of kids, bad and good. Charlie was good, so he gets the factory. End of story. If he is also bad, what's the point?

Although I still think it led to cinematic weakness, on a moral level, I think that this concession to reality was important. It reminds us that even the heroes, even those who really do care about the miracle of candy, can make mistakes, they can break the rules. Unless you're going to live your life like some nerdy Oompah-Loompah, you've got to make some tough decisions. In a world in which some guy wielding crazy knives can threaten you, maybe you should at least hedge your bets and tell Slugworth you might have something for him. At least, if he promises to get the knife sharpener off your back. [16]