Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1971	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	95:40 minutes	Other Extras	None
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	Mel Stuart
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Gene Wilder Jack Albertson Peter Ostrom Roy Kinnear Julie Dawn Cole Leonard Stone Denise Nickerson Dodo Denney Paris Themmen
RRP	$34.95	Music	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement		Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) French (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192Kb/s) Dutch (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	?	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	English French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese German Romanian Bulgarian English For The Hearing Impaired Italian For The Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    I certainly hope no one needs a description of the plot, but for the record here it is. The mythical chocolate maker extraordinaire, one Mr. Willy Wonka, who reclusively churns out perfect chocolate bars by the gazillions without anyone knowing his secrets, gives five lucky members of the general wretched public a chance to visit his mysterious factory. Young Charlie (Peter Ostrom) wants nothing more from his life, which up until now has been pretty poor given that a good meal for him is some cabbage water, than to be one of these people. Of course, the chances are slim, but amazingly he finds a golden ticket in a Wonka bar and gets to tour the factory with his trusty Granddad. All manner of strange things happen within this factory, and in the end Charlie gets to own the factory, which results in him passing out and then exploding. No, the last bit doesn't happen, but he does get the factory. A classically simple yet thoroughly charming tale.

    It must be said that this is one of Gene Wilder's finest hours, playing Mr Wonka to absolute perfection. A touch of madness, a lot of eccentricity and a lot of warmth, he is the essence of this movie and I can't imagine anyone else playing this part as well as he did. Let's not forget the wise little Ooompa-Loompas, who are amusing and insightful, with a lesson in each song! I have no hesitation in adding this movie to my library!

Video

    The image was variably sharp, usually being acceptable, but often quite soft and indistinct. Different scenes suffered in different ways, and effects shots had the hardest time, not really surprisingly given that this is a 30 year old movie. There was little if any edge enhancement, and shadow detail was pretty good. Most scenes had little to no low-level noise, although the poorer scenes did suffer from this problem quite a bit.

    The colours were quite good, although slightly recessed. Skin tones were fairly well rendered, but tended to be a little on the pale side. The colour palette is typical of a movie of this vintage, and is quite acceptable.

    There were no MPEG artefacts which I noticed, and since this is a relatively short movie with no extras, the fact that the disc is only single-layered is of no concern. Film artefacts were quite prominent for the entire movie, occurring regularly and to the point of distraction many times. There were no film-to-video artefacts. Whilst the image is not pristine, it is still perfectly watchable and you should not be too deterred by my comments.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue was strained at times, with heavy re-recording quite obvious. It was generally clear enough, although the timbre shifting as a result of the ADR processing was a bit distracting. The lip sync hinted at straying now and again, but never actually became a real problem.

    The wonderful score comes across quite well in this new mix, being fairly wide in the front soundstage, although its tonal quality is dated. Many Foley sounds were panned across from one side to the other, and in this regard the soundtrack was pleasing.

    What does this new 5.1 mix give us? Well, the front soundstage is tidied up by virtue of the centre channel, and the surrounds do indeed have their place, albeit only slight. Often used for ambience, subtle sounds made their way into the rear of the room. The score had very little presence in the surrounds, and should have been more prominent.

    The subwoofer stood in the corner of the room and sulked, not being used at all by this soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Distortion/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

• Theatrical Trailers
• Production Notes

    The video is average for a movie of this age, although it does suffer from more artefacts than it should. Still, it is not bad.

    The audio is again average, although it is helped by virtue of it being a 5.1 remix.

    Some extras would have been nice, but this release has none.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall