Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

At Vue Cinema – In Cardiff, Cwmbran and Merthyr Tydfil anyway – there’s a Roald Dahl season of films being shown. This includes films like ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The BFG’ and ‘The Witches’. Last Saturday, I saw ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’. YAY!!!

I greatly enjoyed revisiting the film again and for the first time on the big screen. I’d never seen ‘Willy Wonka’ on the big screen before. I’ve often seen it on TV screens and on DVD. It was so surreal to watch the film at the cinema, having seen it many times over the years.

I’ve said in my in-depth review on the film that I consider ‘Willy Wonka’ to be the best film adaptation of the book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl. And I still stand by that statement, especially from revisiting ‘Willy Wonka’ in all its lovely big screen glory.

There were times where I found myself laughing at certain moments and I couldn’t help bursting into tears at some very heartfelt moments. I especially recall being teary from hearing the musical numbers such as ‘Cheer Up, Charlie’ and ‘(I’ve Got a) Golden Ticket’.

I’m also amazed that there were a lot of people that came in to see this film on the big screen. It shows that ‘Willy Wonka’ still has its timeless magic after all these years, as every scene is so captivating when you see it. 🙂 The big screen experience enhances that.

It’s also fascinating that ‘Willy Wonka’ was chosen for a big screen experience lately instead of Tim Burton’s 2005 ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ film. I’ve not done an in-depth review on the 2005 film yet, but the 1971 film with Gene Wilder still wins every time.

As I watched ‘Willy Wonka’ on the big screen, I couldn’t help make some comparisons between the 1971 film to the ‘Tom & Jerry: Willy Wonka’ film released in 2017. I consider that a guilty pleasure compared to the 1971 film. The 1971 film is more credible than that.

Also, I reflect on the fact that the prequel film ‘Wonka’ came out not so long ago in 2023. I recall the song ‘Pure Imagination’ being performed in that film. The darker tone and style of ‘Wonka’ is so different compared to the light-hearted tone and style of the 1971 film. 🙂

The song ‘Pure Imagination’ is something that stands out very well in ‘Willy Wonka’ and has gone to be in other film/TV productions. As well as ‘Wonka’, ‘Pure Imagination’ was in the film ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and was sung by Ncuti Gatwa in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Rogue’.

It was performed in the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ stage musical in London’s West End from 2013 to 2017, which is pretty astounding. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a stage musical of ‘Willy Wonka’ yet, as I’d be keen to see the film performed on the stage.

I had a Diet Coke and a pack of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs whilst watching ‘Willy Wonka’ on the big screen. It was very fitting to have Mini Eggs whilst watching ‘Willy Wonka’, especially considering that it’s chocolate and the film was re-released before Easter time this year.

I enjoyed the film’s cast, including Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe and the five kids, including Peter Ostrum as Charlie, Michael Böllner as Augustus, Julie Dawn Cole as Veruca, Denise Nickerson as Violet and Paris Themmen as Mike. They’re excellent!

The cast are into their roles as you see them on screen. The balance of comedy and drama is well-served when you see what’s happening to the four kids that get naughty as well as the concluding scenes featuring Charlie and Grandpa Joe when confronting Wonka.

‘Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory’ is a film that still works well to this day. I’m very pleased I saw it on the big screen recently, as it’s one of my favourite children’s films as well as one of my favourite Roald Dahl film adaptations. It’s worth checking out at the cinema! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂