Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Children's books are usually the most enjoyable and carefree kind of stories that we all love to watch when they are made into films. And along with the fun loving characters that are in these tales we also are given an array of musical songs that help us identify with the characters and the situations that they are in. This film has touched every generation of children since its release in 1971, and was successfully remade by Tim Burton in 2005. But here the director Mel Stuart has transformed the imagination of Roald Dahl into a living, breathing world that everyone wanted to visit. In the title role of Willy Wonker you have Gene Wilder, who shows the versatility of his acting where he runs the spectrum from comedy to drama, within the blink of an eye and you enjoy it from the beginning to the end of his performance.
A young boys hard life is changed in an instant when he finds the last golden ticket prize to enter a chocolate factory that has been closed to the public for years. From the opening scenes we are presented with a music that is so fun that after a while you don't even realize that you are singing along with the actors. The music is a very intricate part of the movie, it's as important to this film as the sets and props are in setting the right tone for the actors. The sets and props are so whimsical that once you enter the Imagination Room, you can't help but believe in what you are seeing. Every character that is presented is straight forward in their actions, but Wonker is so complex that he stands out from the rest. From the first moment that his name is mentioned to his entrance into the story, he is so multifaceted in his speech, actions and personality that when put up against the other characters in the tale he is nothing else but god like.
I grew up on this movie, and like a lot of other people you learned the life lessons that were being put on display throughout the film. No one would openly admit that they saw themselves portrayed in the movie, unless of course it was the character of Charlie, but with the lovable characters that it introduced to the world we are left with a movie that seems to be ageless. This film isn't as dark as the Burton remake, so the younger children that watch it don't have that foreboding feeling after the movie is done. This is one of those movies that I could watch forever, and enjoy every scene, situation and song that is on the screen.