Promoted as a family musical by Paramount Pictures, Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory is more of a black comedy, perversely faithful to
the spirit of Roald Dahl's original book Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory. Enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) stages a
contest by hiding five golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy
bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the
Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five
winning children are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young
lad named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who takes the tour in the
company of his equally amiable grandfather (Jack Albertson).
In
the course of the tour, Willy Wonka punishes the four nastier children
in various diabolical methods -- one kid is inflated and covered with
blueberry dye, another ends up as a principal ingredient of the
chocolate, and so on -- because these kids have violated the ethics of
Wonka's factory. In the end, only Charlie and his grandfather are left.