Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Warner celebrates the 30th anniversary of a much beloved candy man with a new, feature-full special edition. Gene Wilder stars as Willy Wonka, a mysterious confectionary magnate who takes a group of rather naughty young contest winners behind-the-scenes of his chocolate factory, where they experience all manner of wonderful adventures. This well (if not perfectly) mastered cult classic is both a big fave with kids, and reasonably entertaining for adults, and the extras--including a 30th anniversary documentary featuring new interviews with Wilder and cast; four sing-along-songs (oddly, without lyrics or captioning); and a very entertaining audio commentary with the now middle-aged Wonka 'kids,' will no doubt delight Wonka fans, or at least the non home theater owning ones. Unfortunately (and inexplicably, given Harper Goff's extraordinary art direction), Warner has replaced their own anamorphic widescreen and pan & scan 1977 standard edition DVD with a pan & scan only special one (!?!). However, Warner has just announced that they will be releasing an identical special edition in a widescreen only version on Nov. 13. Recommended, if you want the pan & scan version; otherwise, wait for the widescreen version (or, for larger library collections, consider both). (S. C. Sickles)[Blu-ray Review—Oct. 13, 2009—Warner, 100 min., G, $29.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory features a great transfer and a Dolby True HD 5.1 soundtrack. Packaged with a 28-page booklet, Blu-ray extras include audio commentary with the Wonka Kids (Peter Ostrum, Julie Dawn Cole, Denise Nickerson, Paris Themmen, and Michael Bollner), a “Pure Imagination” making-of featurette (30 min.), a vintage featurette (4 min.), four sing-along songs, and trailers. Bottom line: a cult classic makes a welcome debut in Blu.][Blu-ray Review—Oct. 11, 2011—Warner, 3 discs, 100 min., PG, $64.98—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory features a great transfer and a Dolby True HD 5.1 soundtrack. Bonus features carried over from the previous Blu-ray release include audio commentary with the Wonka kids (Peter Ostrum, Julie Dawn Cole, Denise Nickerson, Paris Themmen, and Michael Bollner), a “Pure Imagination” making-of featurette (30 min.), a vintage featurette (4 min.), four sing-along songs, and trailers. Packaged with a 144-page behind-the-scenes book, a retro tin with scratch-n-sniff pencils and scented eraser, and 14 pieces of Wonka production correspondence—all in a limited edition box—Blu-ray extras new to this set include “Mel Stuart's: Wonkavision” interview with the director (14 min.), and the newly rediscovered archival featurette “A World of Pure Imagination” (13 min.). Bottom line: a handsome limited edition of a beloved cult classic family film aimed squarely at fans; libraries should prefer the lower-priced standard edition Blu-ray.]