Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christopher Lee, Helena Bonham Carter, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Missi Pyle
Revealing mistake: When Augustus is leaving the factory, he is wearing a brown colored glove on the hand he gnaws on. You can see the seams in the glove.
Revealing mistake: At the beginning of the song about Mike Teavee, it can be seen that the reflection of the shrunken Mike on the glossy table is not actually his reflection but rather a mirrored and flipped version of the footage.
Other mistake: Squirrels are used in the factory to get nuts out of shells. Mr Wonka states that they tap the nut first to make sure it isn't a bad nut. However, this is never done until the action is pointed out.
Willy Wonka: Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable, but that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.
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.
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: 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.
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: The Buckets weren't always dead broke. The TV may have been purchased before they became impoverished.
Phixius ★