Review – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Here’s another one of my childhood favorites, due mostly to Gene Wilder’s superb performance as a grown-up who delights in tormenting bad little kids. I’m not all that crazy about the musical numbers (with the possible exception of Veruca Salt’s legendary “I Want It Now” song, and of course the little ditty the Oompa Loompas sing as they attend to the remains of the four kids who don’t make it to the end of the picture), and our protagonist, Charlie the poverty-stricken moppet, is a little too goody-goody for words. But kids everywhere who think their parents are tough should get a real kick out of watching over-indulged brats get their come-uppance in a big way. Further, I note that as an adult re-watching the movie I get an extra kick out of the idiosyncratic, almost absurdist wit of Wilder’s Wonka. Even if this movie didn’t have anything else going for it (and it has plenty), it’s worth it to me just for the riverboat sequence, which I believe was one of my first encounters with horror elements in cinema. Worth seeing