Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
Adaptations of Roald Dahl’s cautionary fairy tales have always been hit or miss, as his dark and twisted children’s stories are difficult to bring to life accurately. They were always written with such strange and clever use of words that transposing them on screen just never really fared all that well. However, 1971’s Willy Wonk & the Chocolate Factory was one of those rare films that they were able to “Mary Poppinsize” by twisting much of the original story and making it completely it’s own thing, instead of trying to replicate Roald Dahls story to film verbatim.

Growing up with this as a childhood classic I’ve had Gene Wilder’s insane rendition of Willy Wonka himself emblazoned so thoroughly in my mind that when the mediocre version with Johnny Depp came out some years ago, I just couldn’t accept it for what it was. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate the Depp version in some ways, but the 1971 film is just so much it’s own thing that it may be the Ferris Bueller of it’s day (meaning it will never have a remake that will live up to the status that the original carried for so long, even if the subsequent film is technically better).

Willy Wonk & the Chocolate Factory follows the exploits of Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), a poor kid living in the 1800s industrial revolution. His family is dirt poor, with his mother and father working their lives away as laborers, and his grandparents sick in bed while they struggle to make ends meet. Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) and little Charlie have a special bond that no one in the house has, and is the only source of true “joy” that the child is privy to (even though he comes from a loving family, his social and wealth status means that much of the care free world that other children have are not at his fingertips).

Outside of school and uncle Joe, the one thing that every kid loves to indulge in is Wonka candy. Wonka candy is head and shoulders above every single candy out there, and the eccentric owner is something of a legend (no one has seen or heard from him for years). However, the news is all a flutter when Wonka announces that he has hidden five golden tickets in 5 pieces of Wonka candy, and those 5 tickets allow the child and a relative to come on tour of the mysterious Wonka factory. The children are all a tizzy as they buy out every single piece of Wonka candy that they can find in hopes of scoring one, and even little Charlie uses what little spare change that he has in hopes of getting a mythical ticket which not only gives him access to the tour, but a lifetime of candy from Wonka.

As you can guess, Charlie does magically get that ONE final ticket and he’s beyond overjoyed. Uncle Joe pulls himself out of bed to take Charlie on the tour (it’s become kind of an internet joke over the years that Uncle Joe was a fraud. He spent years and years bedridden with his family in poverty, then lept out of bed to go on an adventure with his grandson) and the two head off to see what wonders the world of Willy Wonka can unveil. Charlie is the only one of modest means there, as the rest of the children were heavily spoiled brats whose parents could afford to spend a small fortune on buying up candy and increasing their odds. Each of the other 4 children are basically a walking demonstration for why birth control was invented, and needless to say act as a staunch counterpart to Charlie’s simple kindness and wonder.

The rest of the film takes the point of view of Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) himself as he takes the kids on a tour of his factory. It’s here that the film goes from typical cute musical to full on fantasy film with oompa loompas, magic boats, and crazy candies. The film acts as a sort of cautionary character tale of greed, lust, anger, gluttony and the rest of the deadly sins on full display with the other children. Like all Roald Dahl stories the good guys are never “truly” good, all except simple Charlie whose childlike innocence and simplicity is the heart and soul of the movie. A movie like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory should have been lost to the annals of history as another 70s crazy flick, but the cast really elevate it over what it SHOULD have been. The movie obviously had it’s low budget problems, but it sunk into the minds and culture of the 1970s, and has subverted those low expectations ever since.




Rating:

Rated G for General Audiences




4K Video: Video:

Fans of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory have been begging Warner for a new release for YEARS, and finally it’s upon us. I’m not sure WHEN the newer master was stuck as all Warner provided was a statement saying “Previously Restored in 4K”. I’m pretty sure it was several years ago that this new master was struck as it doesn’t have the sheen and polish that some of the truly modern 4K remasters have had, but either way, it is a massive improvement over the abysmal 2009 Blu-ray.

The film’s Blu-ray transfer wasn’t just mediocre in terms of image quality. It was famously misframed with not only a slight crop to 1.78:1 from 1.85:1, but also a shift over to the left as well, which showed more information on the left hand side of the screen than the theatrical print. Looking at the film and A/Bing it with the old Blu-ray it appears much more centered now as well. Being that I’m not a film historian I can’t say that the new version is 100% accurate to the original framing done decades ago, but it certainly is a nicer from a perfectionist point of view vs. the slightly awkward Blu-ray framing.

Right off the bat the film looks much more saturated and much cleaner as well. The Blu-ray always had a sort of blown out and overly whitened look that smeared some detail levels and made the primary colors look garish and overly burnished. The HDR color tones hear keep the bright red of Charlie’s scarf, or the purple of Wonka’s coat rich and vibrant, yet not pushed so hard to the white end of the spectrum as to appear glowing as previous. Contrast and clarity is much improved as well, as you can see so much more detail than the before as well. There’s still some softness to the image, and you can see some background blur here and there, but overall this is a MUCH improved version of the film. Blacks are no longer milky and blown out, and the contrast is shockingly balanced. As I said, the film still shows room for improvement, but it looks so much better than the Blu-ray edition that we’ve had for 12 years that I’m willing to live with the knowledge that another transfer will probably polish it up a bit more later on in life.



Audio:

No Atmos track, but then again, I’m not a fan of turning a Mono track into a 5.1 mix, then further tweaking it into an Atmos track for these old films. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track seems to be a slight repackage of the 2009 Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track in all of the problematic glory that it was known for. The vocals are still harsh and scratchy, and there is some definite auditory hiss going on in the background. The Treble especially has some issues with scratchiness, and bass response is only decent. The 5.1 track from the 2009 Blu-ray was as inconsistent as the Blu-ray video was, and basically porting over the same mix with all the same flaws is a bit disappointing as I would have at least liked to have seen them go back to the stems and fix up all the issues. Or hey, it would have been nice for Warner to include the original Mono mix as well on the disc.

I’ve read rumors and a review that stated that it’s not just a simple repackaging from Dolby to DTS, but a slight remix as well with better bass response. With that in mind I A/B’d the two tracks and level matched them, and really couldn’t tell a differences. If it IS a slight remix then the differences are too subtle for me to pick up.




Extras:

• PREVIOUSLY RESTORED IN 4K
• HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
• Commentary with the Wonka Kids
• Pure Imagination: The Story of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
• The Moviemakers
• Scrumptious Sing-Along: Pure Imagination
• Scrumptious Sing-Along: I Want It Now!
• Scrumptious Sing-Along: I've Got A Golden Ticket
• Scrumptious Sing-Along: Oompa-Loompa-Doompa-De-Do
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

A massive classic from a decade of goofiness and throwaway comedies (the 70s was not a good time for films in my opinion), Willy Wonk & the Chocolate Factory is still an indelible classic to this day. It’s weird, slightly repulsive, and insanely acted by Gene Wilder, but still an incredibly fun ride. The upgrade to 4K UHD is a welcome addition for those of us who lamented the previous video transfer for over a decade, and despite me missing some of the “box o swag” edition additions, I’m very pleased with this 4K UHD disc. Definite grab if you’re a fan of the film.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole
Directed by: Mel Stuart
Written by: Roald Dahl (Novel), David Seltzer (Screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: G
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 29th, 2021

Recommendation: Awesome Watch

 

[Todd Anderson]

This looks like a good one. So many people had such an adverse reaction to the new Wonka... I wonder how younger (modern) generations feel about it. My guess is that this older version might look too dated?

 

[Asere]

Thanks for the review. There is nothing like the original version. The remake can't touch this one.