Author: Roald Dahl
Illustrator: Quentin Blake
Summary:
Charlie Bucket lives a meager life with his parents and both sets of grandparents. While they are poor, they are happy. In Charlie's town is an incredible chocolate factory run by Mr. Willy Wonka. Mr. Wonka used to have his factory open, but when other chocolatiers came in and began to siphon the secrets to his special sweets, Wonka closed his doors. Now a mysterious group of people help him run his chocolate factory and no one ever goes in or out the large iron gate. When an announcement is made that Wonka will allow five children (and their guests) inside the gates, the entire world is aflutter with excitement. To win, you just have to open the chocolate bar with the golden ticket! Charlie knows that he has no chance since his family can only afford one chocolate bar a year for Charlie's birthday. As winners begin to surface, the reader sees that the children selected are not necessarily the most worthy. First is Augustus Gloop, a greedy, overweight boy. Next comes Veruca Salt who is spoiled rotten by her parents. Violet Beauregarde is next. Violet typically chews gum, but she switched to chocolate when she heard about the contest. Last is Mike Teavee who, like his name, does nothing but watch television all day long.
On Charlie's birthday, Charlie is mildly disappointed to see that he receives only a chocolate bar when opening his candy. Grandpa Joe even gives Charlie ten cents of his own savings to go and buy another bar of chocolate. When they unwrap it together, they discover that it is yet again only chocolate. When Charlie comes upon a dollar bill in the street one day, he feels so fortunate and decides to buy a bar of chocolate for himself and food for his family with the rest of the money. Charlie buys one candy bar and then on a whim, decides to buy a second. When he unwraps the second candy bar he is astonished to find the last golden ticket! Charlie runs home to reveal the wonderful news to his family. He is allowed to bring 1 or 2 guests with him to the factory and chooses Grandpa Joe. When Charlie and the others arrive for the big day, they have no idea what is in store. Not only do they get to meet the mysterious factory workers (Oompa-Loompas), but they see a marvelous world of chocolate, candies, and magic!
Compare/Contrast:
While the story line is basically the same for both the book and the movie, there are slight differences that set the two apart. For example, in the movie, Grandpa Joe once worked in Willy Wonka's factory, but there is no mention of this in the book. Additionally only one guest is allowed in with the winner in the movie, but two guests are allowed to go in the book. Another stark difference is the overall personality of Willy Wonka. In the book, Wonka seems as if he really would like to prevent these catastrophes from happening to the children, however in the movie, he almost challenges them to do the things that he knows will cause them harm. An additional difference is how we see Veruca Salt disappear. In the book, she is vanquished by squirrels who deem her a "bad nut." However, in the movie, she is sent away as a "bad egg" by golden hens. Interestingly enough, in the remake of the movie (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Veruca again meets up with the squirrels instead of the hens.
Another experience that is mentioned in the book, but it slightly different than in the movie is the Fizzy Lifting Drinks. In the book, Wonka tells Charlie and Grandpa Joe of the power of these drinks, but neither one drinks any. In the movie, likely to add some action to the plot, Charlie and Grandpa Joe take a sip and find themselves floating toward the ceiling and a giant, deadly fan. Together they must figure out how to get back to the ground before it is too late. There are additional difference between the movie and book such as the prominence of the character Slugworth. In the book, he is merely mentioned, however in the movie, he plays a part in trying to discover secrets of the factory.
Overall, there are many differences, but also many things that remained the same between the book and the movie. To be able to see yet another version of this story through a second movie (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) was also quite interesting. It was quite strange to see how the two different actors (Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp) played the same character. In preference, I would rank the book an 8, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Wilder) a 7, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Depp) a 5.
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