Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Deliberate mistake: Charlie's room has a hole big enough for him to climb out of in the ceiling. I know it is to show just how poor the family is, but we see he has only a thin wool blanket for warmth. He would have frozen to death in his sleep during winter by now.

Grumpy Scot

Other mistake: In the beginning of the song about Augustus Gloop, computer generated Oompa Loompas can be seen running through the Chocolate Room, preparing to sing their song. In the DVD release, some Oompa Loompas can be seen running to places that no real person could possibly stand on. This mistake was later corrected in the Blu-Ray release.

throast

More mistakes in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Grandpa Joe: Mr. Wonka! I don't know if you remember me, but I used to work here in the factory.
Willy Wonka: Were you one of those despicable spies who everyday tried to steal my life's work and sell it to those parasitic copycat candy making cads?
Grandpa Joe: No, sir.
Willy Wonka: Then wonderful, welcome back.

More quotes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Trivia: In the scene with the young Willy Wonka eating a box of chocolates, he is writing down in a notebook a description of each chocolate he eats. When Roald Dahl was at boarding school there was a Cadbury's factory nearby that used the pupils as testers for their new chocolate, and they were asked to write down their comments in much the same way. This is mentioned in his book Boy.

More trivia for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Question: If the Buckets were very poor, then why do they even have TV? Why don't they use the extra money for food?

Answer: The Buckets weren't always dead broke. The TV may have been purchased before they became impoverished.

Phixius

Answer: TV is kind of a necessity. Here in the UK debt collectors can't take a TV if it's the only one in the house. Also, they can't afford newspapers so how would they catch up on news? The TV will last for a while whereas it would only buy a few days worth of food, so the TV is a more sustainable option.

Answer: In addition to the other answer about TV basically being a necessity, there's also the very real chance that they got the TV for dirt-cheap or even free somewhere. It looks like a crummy old antenna TV anyways. They often get old TV's in things like thrift stores or flea markets, etc. I actually specifically look for things like old TV's and VCR's in thrift store and find them a lot since I enjoy collecting old analog media and devices. Plus, given that the grandfather used to work for Wonka, it's entirely possible that he bought it in the past before the family became so poor.

TedStixon

Answer: Don't they have to pay for a monthly subscription? Isn't cable paid for every month?

This was based on the book, not the timeframe of the movie. There was no cable for TVs when the book was written OR in the 1971 original film. Yes, cable was available in 2005 at this film's time but that's not the logic here.

More questions & answers from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.