"Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971), Directed by Mel Stuart, Produced by Stan Margulies and David L. Woper - Starring Gene Wilder

[DonRocks]

There are a handful of films that "I want to see, despite not dying to see them," mainly because they're such staples of American society that I feel like I'm missing out by not having done so - "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" was one of them (until about thirty minutes ago).

goldenticket will disembowel me for saying this, but I "liked" it without loving it. I realize it's 44-years-old (the time elapsed between "The Wizard of Oz" and this was only 32 years, if that puts the age of the film into perspective), and I'm glad I saw it while at the same time wishing it would end just a bit sooner. I really didn't know anything about the movie going into it, so it had nothing to do with me knowing the plot in advance.

That said, I can easily see this being considered a children's classic, even though "children's" must be put in quotes, like a Grimm Fairy Tale. I also liked the ambiguity of the children's fate - this film was not condescending at all.

Loved the Oompa Loompas!

There is absolutely an overlap between these two songs (and it's ironic that Johnny Depp was in the remake). Whether or not it was "inspiration," "borrowing," or something more than that, I'll leave up to the readers:

Circular