Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Answer: We are never shown what happened to him but he may have gone to live with relatives or he was simply put into an orphanage.

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.

Answer: Wonka is simply uncomfortable around people. Gum chewing is simply an annoyance he never had to put up with as a recluse.

JC Fernandez

Question: I don't fully understand the ending. Why did Charlie want to have his house in the chocolate factory?

Answer: The narrator tells us that Charlie accepted Wonka's offer to take over the factory "on one condition." We then see Charlie come home to his family's house - a place of warmth and love - with WIllie Wonka in tow to share dinner. Then the camera pans out to show that the house is, indeed, inside the factory, with giant salt shaker-like machines providing the snow. Then we see an Oompa-Loompa, who has apparently been our narrator throughout, tell us the ending of the story. Charlie won a factory. But more important, "Willie Wonka got something even better - a family." So, what was Charlie's "one condition?" Recall that in the scene before, Charlie watched intently as Wonka reconnected with his dentist father after years of estrangement. The "one condition" probably wasn't to have the house moved into the factory. Rather, it was probably his condition that Wonka become an adopted member of the Bucket family. By moving the house into the factory, everyone's happy ending could be met. Perhaps moving the house was more Wonka's idea than Charlie's. Plus, it just makes for a hell of a cute ending, with those fun little nested surprises throughout.

Michael Albert

Question: What video game was Mike Teevee playing and what system is it for?

Answer: It's not a real game - the sequence was created specifically for the film by a company called Digi-Guys based in Ealing Studios in the UK. The software used was Softimage XSI and Digital Fusion.

Question: Are Violet and Mike stuck as being blue and stretched out permanently?

Rob245

Answer: It's left vague in the film, but in the book, it's made clear that yes, they are stuck that way.

Answer: In the original movie with Gene Wilder, Wonka assures Charlie that "they will be returned to their nasty selves." In this version they are stuck like that forever as a lesson to other children.

Answer: It's unknown if they'll stay that way for the rest of their lives or if they'll eventually return to normal.

Question: If it's such a hi-tech factory, why is Doris still using an old fashion typewriter when they wave to her?

Answer: Perhaps she prefers the old style typewriter. Besides, the film seems to be set in a parallel time where modern items and more antique items exist quite happily side by side.

Mad Ade

This is further shown by the fact that there don't seem to be any phones.

Answer: It's probably to be assumed that what they're shearing is what Wonka cotton candy is made from, and Wonka didn't want to state this to anyone else. I can imagine 8 people from around the world that lost the competition going out and telling people cotton candy is made from pink sheep's wool wouldn't sit well with the masses.

Answer: Because is probably just one of those weird and wonderful things, like much of Wonka's world, that he could not really explain simply, thus feeling it was best left unsaid altogether. It may well be a nod to another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie where he played Ed Wood, a transvestite who liked pink angora sweaters.

Mad Ade

Answer: I saw something saying that the shears may have reminded him of the silver hair.

Question: I don't quite understand how Willy Wonka's father's house could have moved away from the rest of the block. Could anyone explain that to me?

Answer: It's a joke. It shows what great lengths Dr. Wonka went to to distance himself from his son, by making sure even his childhood home would be gone, but to ponder how this happened is useless. It's a simple joke, nothing more.

Twotall

Answer: There is a scene at the end of the film showing the children leaving the factory. It shows the changes ARE permanent. Mike stays stretched and Violet stays blue. She is also impossibly flexible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBOvtKI73yc.

Answer: In the book, it's implied that they did.

Brian Katcher

Question: Young Willy runs through the flags of various countries at the museum. Can someone name those countries in order?

Answer: Please keep in mind that some of the flags overlap and are only seen briefly. In order: Canada, France, India, Switzerland, Germany, United States, Great Britain, Mexico, Japan, China and Iraq.

ChiChi

Question: Upon first meeting each other, Veruca says "Let's be friends", and Violet replies "best friends". I get a strange feeling this is a reference to something. Is it, and if so, what?

Answer: They're there to compete, but are pretending to really like each other. It's not a reference to anything specific.

Jane Doe

Question: I understand that the video game Mike Teevee was playing was made specifically for the movie. I also know that it's a First Person Shooter game. Is the game similar to any actual real life video games?

Answer: Other than being a first person shooter, no it is not similar to any other game.

MasterOfAll

Answer: Being an avid gamer, I'd say Unreal 1 is the closest game to the one represented in the movie.

Answer: Looks like a doom 3 clone.

Question: Who are the motorbike riders who put the flyers up announcing the Golden Tickets? They're too tall to be Oompa-Loompas.

Answer: Presumably they were hired by Wonka in some manner. They may, for example, be the men who usually drive his delivery trucks for him.

Tailkinker

Question: In Charlie's house, why do all four grandparents sit/sleep continuously on the same bed all the time? Especially when one of them, who went with Charlie is perfectly capable of walking. How can four people be comfortable on one bed all the time? Secondly, what is in the middle of the bed, where they keep the food tray and where Charlie sits, during one scene?

Answer: All four grandparents sleep in one bed because there is only one good bed and the family gives the one comfy bed to the elderly. His grandparents aren't supposed to be able to walk .

shortdanzr

His parents weren't able to walk in the original but, in the 2005 movie toward the end when the house was moved into the factory, all grandparents are at the diner table.

Question: Right after Wonka shows the group the Everlasting Gobstoppers, Violet looks at her mother and she gives Violet a weird look. What's this about?

Brad

Chosen answer: The weird look was because Wonka didn't like the comparison between gum and the everlasting gobstoppers. Violet and her mom wanted to win, but by making Wonka irritated it didn't help their chances so they shared a disappointed look.

Answer: The look was a nod to the 1971 Gene Wilder version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the original, Slugworth approaches the ticket holders and promises to pay them money, in return for them bringing him an everlasting gobstopper. I'm unsure whether Slugworth approached the kids in the '05 version, as you never see him do it. He's just one of the shady characters referenced as stealing Wonka's candy secrets.

Question: What is the steel mask that young Willy is wearing all the time? What is its purpose? How does he eat, drink, talk, or brush his teeth with that mask on?

Answer: It's (ridiculously exaggerated) orthodontic headgear, designed to straighten one's teeth. I had to wear a much smaller version as a kid.

Brian Katcher

Question: What is the purpose of the guns and cannons that the Oompa Loompas are firing in the elevator scene?

Movie Lover

Answer: It was to make poprocks-esque candy.

It was just a pointless room like the fudge mountain room.

Chosen answer: There isn't one. Hence Mike's question about having no point and Charlie's response that candy doesn't need a point.

Garlonuss

Question: Which grandparent doesn't like candy?

Answer: All of the grandparents like candy. But grandpa George doesn't like the way it is being used in the contest and he also doesn't like the children who end up getting the tickets.

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

Willy Wonka: Good morning starshine...the earth says hello!

More quotes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Trivia: The squirrels were all real and trained, but when they were all put on the set they began to fight. The squirrel scenes had to be done like the Oompa Loompa scenes, taping all the squirrels separately and pasting them together.

More trivia for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

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