Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

A closer look at the story

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory centres on Charlie Bucket, a boy who shares a tiny, ramshackle wooden hut on the outskirts of a big city with his parents and his grandparents. The household has very little money. Charlie adores chocolate yet never has the money to buy any, so a single small bar, paid for with carefully saved coins, arrives once a year. Meanwhile an enormous factory, visible even from the Buckets' window, turns out the most celebrated chocolate on the planet. One day its owner, the eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka, announces a competition to find an heir to his sweet empire, and the winners will be shown around the most extraordinary chocolate works in the world. Charlie becomes one of the lucky few. Tim Burton directed this 115-minute family fantasy from 2005, adapted by John August from Roald Dahl's novel. Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore plays Charlie, with David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor in the cast.