Customer Reviews

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory: Music From The Original Soundtrack Of The Paramount Picture

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 1971, Mel Stuart directed a wonderful musical fantasy entitled "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", based upon the 1964 children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" written by Roald Dahl (1916-1990), who also wrote "James and the Giant Peach" in 1961. The story is about a little boy named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) who works as a paperboy to help his impoverished & widowed mother (Diana Sowle) pay their expenses by working as a paperboy. Living with Charlie and his mother are all four of his grandparents: Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson, 1907-1981), Grandma Georgina (Dora Altmann, 1881-1971), Grandpa George (Ernst Ziegler, 1895-1980) and Grandma Josephine (Franziska Liebing, 1900-2000); none of which have gotten out of bed for twenty years. In the same town where Charlie lives is the famous chocolate factory owned by Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder). One day while Charlie is in school with his strange schoolteacher, Mr. Turkentine (David Battley, 1935-2003), a momentous announcement is made: Willy Wonka has started a contest to win a lifetime supply of chocolate. The entire world becomes crazed with finding the five hidden golden tickets that are hidden in five Wonka chocolate bars. Only the bearer of a golden ticket will have the opportunity to enter the mysterious chocolate factory and obtain the lifetime supply of chocolate. Various children from around the globe find the golden tickets, including Charlie to the amazement of his family. The winning children, and their accompanying adults, enter the most fantastic place that any of them have ever seen; but none of them could have imagined what their actions could merit. The other four children and their accompanying adults include the selfishly whiney Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), Mr. Henry Salt (Roy Kinnear), the conceited Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), Mr. Sam Beauregarde (Leonard Stone), the television-addicted Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen), Mrs. Teevee (Nora 'Dodo' Denney), the gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner) and Mrs. Gloop (Ursula Reit).

Probably one of the most important elements that made "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" so memorable is its wonderful music. In fact, the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Music from the Academy Awards. Below, I have listed each of the film's songs that was composed by Anthony Newley (1931-1999), Leslie Bricusse and Walter Scharf (1910-2003) along with with my ranking for each:

1. "Main Title (Golden Ticket/Pure Imagination)" (5, instrumental). This really captures the musical tone of the film.

2. "The Candyman" (5+, performed by Aubrey Woods). One of the most memorable songs from the film.

3. "Charlie's Paper Run" (5, instrumental).

4. "Cheer-up, Charlie (5, performed by Diane Sowle). A sad, but beautiful song.

5. "Lucky Charlie" (5, instrumental). Played when Charlie finds a golden ticket.

6. "(I've Got a) Golden Ticket" (5+, performed by Peter Ostrum & Jack Albertson). Charlie & Grandpa Joe singing and dancing after Grandpa Joe finally gets out of bed after 20 years.

7. "Pure Imagination" (5++, performed by Gene Wilder). Probably my personal favorite song in the film.

8. "Oompa Loompa" (5, performed by the Oompa Loompas). The first rendition of the Oompa Loompa song.

9. "The Wondrous Boat Ride" (5+, performed by Gene Wilder). Some people don't like this somewhat bizarre song, but I think it's quite fun!

10. "Everlasting Gobstoppers/Oompa Loompa", (5, performed by the Oompa Loompas). The Oompa Loompas sing their song again, but with a different emphasis.

11. "The Bubble Machine" (4.5, instrumental). Charlie & Grandpa Joe get into some trouble.

12. "I Want It Now/Oompa Loompa", (5, performed by Julie Dawn Cole and the Oompa Loompas). A very well performed song that includes another Oompa Loompa rendition.

13. "Wonkamobile, Wonkavision/Oompa Loompa", (4.5, performed by Gene Wilder and the Oompa Loompas). Another very fun song that concludes a darker version of the now-familiar Oompa Loompa song.

14. "Wonkavator/End Title (Pure Imagination)" (5, part instrumental, partly sung by the Oompa Loompas). A wonderful closing song to an amazing film.

Overall, I rate the soundtrack for the classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.

WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is a charming movie. This soundtrack to the film is a delight to own for any fans of the film. My favorites on the album are:

"Golden Ticket"

"Candy Man"

"Pure Imagination"

"Oompa Loompa"

My only complaint about this album is that the tracks aren't organized very well. For example, except for the first "Oompa Loomp", the rest of the "Oompa Loompa" songs are at the end of other tracks so you have to fast forward or rewind to find what you're looking for. Also, there is a lot of dialogue and sound effects contained in some of the song tracks. I'm glad it's on there, but it would have been better if the dialogue and sound effects were on separate tracks than the songs. However, if you can deal with those little nuances, this is a wonderful cd to own.

Willy Wonka is another one of those perennial favorite movies. It was one of the very few notable movie musicals to come out of the early 70's ("Fiddler on the Roof" and "Man of La Mancha" are the only others that come to mind). It is a lavish movie musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's most famous children's book, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." While most of the lavish productions of the period, such as "Camelot" and "Hello Dolly" failed, the popularity of "Willy Wonka" endures today.

The score is one of the many things this movie has going for it. It is just fabulous. While none of the cast are excellent singers, the score is best sung by those who are correctly cast in their roles. Fortunately, every one is perfect in his or her role and the singing comes off just fine. The sound quality on this album is excellent. Highly Recommended.

I think it's a really great cd, because it takes my back to my childhood. I grew up listening to the soundtrack and watching the movie. After I hadn't seen the movie or heard any of the songs for years and found a friend's brother had the sound track it really went straight to my heart. I remember when I was a little girl and I used to watch it and sing along to the songs to get rid of my anger, fear or whatever I was feeling that was a bad feeling. This was my favorite movie/soundtrack growing up. It's really great to know that some place actually has the sound track.

There are some works of art that are timeless. When you listen to a piece of music almost 35 years after it was published and it still rings true and fresh to you, you are listening to one of these works of art. And the soundtrack to the classic movie "Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory" is one of them.

I never saw Willy Wonka as I was growing up. Having been raised in a different country, it wasn't part of our pop culture. So I became exposed to the movie and its music earlier this year (before the Johnny Depp remake came out) and I felt touched by it as if I had seen it as a child. I can sometimes accidentally whistle to the tune of "Pure Imagination", as if I had listened to it over and over during my childhood years. Now, this soundtrack is a permanent part of my all-time favorites. I've now got a Golden Album!

I rated this 5 stars NOT because it is great music (it's not bad) BUT it's full of good memories. I suppose I'm not alone in that line of thinking. ANYWAY, it's a great CD and if you like the movie and find yourself singing away during and after, BUY the CD!!! (It's nice to have children because you can buy things designed for children when you know It's partly for yourself) =)

The musical score from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is as catchy and memorable as the movie. Oompa-loompa, doopity doo, i've got another puzzle for you, I mean, is this the best soundtrack in the world or what? Every hummable tune (Especially Gene Wilder's little 'Pure Imagination' song) just makes me want to sing along with the music, it's so fundiddlyscrumptious that I can't stop listening to this all day. Like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins, these are soundtracks that I shouldn't like, but I do and then some! 'The Candyman Can' is another inspired tune. Buy it now and have a musical adventure. And if you already have it, you're humming it right now aren't you? Like Willy Wonka says: 'A little nonsens now and then is relished by the wisest of men. Cherish this fantastic soundtrack forever. All together now: 'Oompa-loompa, doopity doo, i've got another puzzle for you...' This is the Citizen Kane of movie music.

This CD contains great memories from a fantastic movie. I had been looking for this soundtrack for a long time, and was excited to see it available. Everything is great to listen to from the opening title theme to the end zooming out of the factory in the wonka-vator. Also to be enjoyed is the classic songs by the oompa-loompas, and the touching "pure imagination". Every time I listen to it, it's like re-watching the movie over and over. It makes me smile every time. I was very happy with my purchase. The CD came on time, and was in great condition. Everything went great. Thanks!

My second graders love listening to the sound track from the original version of the movie.

Purchasing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was overdue. As entertaining as the movie, the Oompa Loompa lyrics... what's not to love? One of my all-time favorite CDs