Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

This movie has so many of my favorite things... candy, color, craziness, old people, Gene Wilder.  It's based on one of those crazy creative books by Roald Dahl, who is pretty much my hero.  He is also responsible for James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and BFG.  He...is...awesome.

Some morals of this movie are obvious.  Few movies have a song, complete with words wiggling across the screen, after each "lesson" is illustrated.

Charlie is the only kid who doesn't get his own oompa loompa song, but even he has broken one of Wonka's laws by stealing fizzy lifting drinks.  There's a really great documentary in the special features section on the disc that shows what all of the kids look like grown up and has little interviews with each of them.

But Willy Wonka himself is by far the most interesting character.  And Gene Wilder is brilliant.  It was mentioned in the doc that this is a difficult role to pull off because this is a character who should be disturbing (children are being drowned, blown up, falling down chutes, shrunk, and disappear all throughout the movie) and yet Gene Wilder is so warm that he's never scary or unlikeable, even when he freaks out and yells at Charlie.  And he makes so many subtle gestures throughout each scene to really add depth and character to his role.  Like when he's singing "Pure Imagination" and caressing Mike's hair, then pulls out a strand.

So what else can we learn from this cult classic?

Grandpa Joe is a freeloading skank.  This is a touchy subject with me for some reason.  Grandpa Joe and the other elders have been sharing a bed, bed-ridden, for 20 years.  Not only is this completely disgusting, but it is also a scam because the second Charlie comes home with his golden ticket, not only does he stand up and walk, but he dances around the room and even does that feet-tap-jump thing.  If I were Charlie's mom, I'd be like, "What the ---?!"

Just because someone looks and acts creepy and has a horrible name like "Slugworth" doesn't mean they are actually a bad person.  Self-explanatory.  (This little nugget came from my little brother.)

Be happy now, don't wait for a Golden Ticket.  I don't think this is a lesson the movie intended, but Uchtdorf was clever enough to come up with it.  Everyone was so busy looking for the golden tickets, they forgot to enjoy the candy bars.  If we are sad, mopey, and in serious need of a haircut like Charlie (sorry Char) while waiting on whatever our "golden ticket" is- finding the one, getting things, accomplishing something big, making a lot of money... we are missing out on the happiness available to us now.  Food for thought.

     Small gestures can have big consequences.             Charlie just got chewed out by Wonka, and he thinks       he's lost the contest- a lifetime supply of chocolate.         But at the last minute he leaves the everlasting                 gobstopper (which for all he knows he could have             given to Slugworth for a ton of money) and that one         small act changes everything.  It impresses Wonka so     much that not only does he win the lifetime supply of       chocolate and an awesome ride in the wonkavator,           but he and his family get to move in, be taken care of       for life, and take over the factory.  We never know             what small act of kindness, honesty, or integrity will         bring us unimaginable blessings.