Film / Wonka

You've never had chocolate like this.

"Many people have come here to sell chocolate. They've all been crushed by the Chocolate Cartel. You can't get a shop without selling chocolate, and you can't sell chocolate without a shop."

Wonka is a 2023 musical fantasy comedy film prequel to Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, specifically the famed 1971 film adaptation. It is directed by Paul King from a screenplay by King and his Paddington 2 cowriter Simon Farnaby and stars Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, Paterson Joseph, Mathew Baynton, Matt Lucas, Natasha Rothwell, Jim Carter, Rich Fulcher, Rakhee Thakrar, Tom Davis, Olivia Colman, and Hugh Grant. Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy writes the film's original songs, while Joby Talbot composes its score.

Chalamet plays a young Willy Wonka at the start of his chocolate-making career. As he seeks to make a name for himself at the Galeries Gourmet, he must contend with several opponents, namely the unscrupulous pair behind his new boarding house, a "Chocolate Cartel" with a stranglehold on the business, and a mysterious little orange man who keeps stealing his inventory in the dead of night. But if anyone can beat the odds and one day build the most legendary chocolate factory in the world, it's Wonka.

The film released in the United Kingdom on December 8 and in North America on December 15, 2023.

Previews: Trailer, Trailer 2

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Wonka contains examples of:

• Accents Aren't Hereditary:
  • Willy Wonka speaks with an American accent, and had it even as a young boy. His mother has an Irish accent.
  • Noodle has an American accent, but her uncle Mr. Slugworth has a British accent.
• Accidental Theft: Lofty reveals that the cocoa beans Wonka harvested from Loompaland several years ago were actually property of the Oompa-Loompas that he was guarding. Upon learning this, Wonka tells him that had he known that from the beginning he never would've taken them, and Lofty sheepishly confesses that the reason he didn't speak up is because he fell asleep on guard duty.
• Acid Reflux Nightmare: An inversion of the trope is discussed. When Wonka explains to Noodle that a "little orange man" has periodically been stealing his chocolate concoctions for years, and that it's always while he's asleep or almost asleep, she doesn't believe him and instead theorizes that he falls asleep, has a dream about a little orange man, then sleep-eats the chocolate himself. Wonka notes that this theory does make more sense.
• Acting Out a Daydream: Officer Affable catches Wonka being absorbed in the dancing act of his Fantasy Sequence at the Galeries Gourmet.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Wonka in this version is motivated to have his own chocolate store since his mother promised they would shortly before she died when he was a child; he admits that he hopes that doing so will somehow make him feel she was with him.
• Adaptational Context Change: In the original book and the previous adaptations, Wonka discovered and hired the Oompa-Loompas to work in his factory after dismissing all of his human staff, due to some of his previous employees selling his secrets to his rivals and putting him out of business. In this film, Wonka meets and gradually befriends a lone Oompa-Loompa when he's still young and only just starting out as a chocolatier, and the latter agrees to work for him when he finally gets his factory, before any human employees are ever hired.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Although he is already a brilliant and effectively self-taught inventor and candymaker, Wonka doesn't know how to read until Noodle teaches him, who also points out that his habit of relying on the kindness of strangers is foolish after he ends up in indentured servitude to Mrs. Scrubbit. This foolish gullibility also gives Lofty a chance to attack him and escape, in contrast to the usual depictions of Wonka, who is The Trickster and wouldn't fall for such a trick. This can be justified by Wonka being young and inexperienced, whereas the more familiar Wonkas are older and more experienced men. By the end of the film, however, he has grown into more of his familiarly cunning self, to the point he defeats the Cartel once and for all with just his smarts.
• Adaptational Heroism: Willy Wonka was a good person in the original book, if somewhat following a different sense of right and wrong when compared to other people, but the prequel film has him fighting against criminals controlling the police and even giving up on his dreams to ensure that Noodle and his friends could be free, an act of personal sacrifice that isn't suggested in the book or adaptations. On the other hand, it's not that far off from his actions in the novel's as-yet-unfilmed sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (which promoted him to protagonist), in which he outwits killer aliens and risks his life to save every de-aged Oompa-Loompa (one at a time), and later Grandma Georgina, from Minusland.
• Adaptational Location Change: Loompaland was previously described as being a jungle country. In this version, the Oompa-Loompas live on a tropical island.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: This film has by far the most kind and selfless version of Wonka, which is justified by him being far younger than his counterparts, who had been worn down by people trying to steal their recipes. Instead of a recluse struggling to find good in the world and a genuine connection with others, he is a warm-hearted young man full of hope and dreams who makes friends rather easily and cares about the safety of others, especially when his chocolate seems to have negative side effects.
• Adaptational Origin Connection: Wonka is shown to have visited Loompaland much earlier in his career than he did in either the book or the previous adaptations. As a result, the Oompa-Loompa Lofty gets directly involved in Wonka's conflicts with Slugworth and his other rivals, and ultimately helps him to establish his iconic chocolate factory.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Justified since this is Willy Wonka when he's trying to start his career, instead of in the book or previous adaptations where he is an older and more cynical businessman. Nearly every negative personality trait common across adaptations has been removed in favor of focusing on his whimsical creativity and kindness towards others. He was even willing to give up on making chocolate forever just to make sure that his friends would be freed from their debts, a selfless act that isn't suggested in the original novel, though not far off from his portrayal in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (in which he was willing to risk his own life to save all the Oompa-Loompas — one at a time — de-aged into Minusland).
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
  • While it was never explicitly confirmed, in part due to them never appearing in person, the original book implies that the other chocolatiers - Slugworth, Prodnose and Fickelgruber - are all completely separate businesses that tried to compete with both Wonka and each other. This version shows the three running an elaborate conspiracy as an organized Chocolate Cartel, working in cahoots to maintain their shared control of the chocolate industry. In addition, instead of a professional rivalry where their worst crime was sending spies to steal his recipes, Wonka's rivals are openly hostile to him from the start and are much more direct with trying to get rid of him, with them attempting on at least two occasions to outright murder him, making their conflict far more personal.
  • Wonka's relationship with the Oompa Loompas is greatly changed. Instead of offering them a place to live in return for working at his factory after firing all regular workers, he unknowingly stole the rare cocoa beans that Lofty was meant to be guarding. As punishment, Lofty must steal more from Wonka, leading to Wonka deeming this strange figure his nemesis but not really understanding who or what he is until he finally captures him. The film ends with the two ending their rivalry and Wonka paying back the last that he owed Lofty before hiring him as a taster instead of hiring all the Oompa Loompas to work for him, though presumably Lofty ends up convincing others to work for Wonka after the film.
• Adapted Out: Justified as this is set when Wonka was a young man, decades before Charlie was even born, but the Bucket family doesn't even get a small mention. The factory location wouldn't have allowed their shack to be built behind it either, although it may be that the factory is close enough to town for Charlie to walk past it in the future.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: The name of Wonka's washing machine: Willy Wonka's Wild and Wonderful Wishy-washy Wonka Walker! ("Please don't make me say that again!")
• Advertising by Association: Per the trailer, the film is "from the director of Paddington and the producer of Harry Potter".
• Alternate Continuity: While an Origins Episode for Willy Wonka and having a few Mythology Gags towards the 1971 film, it's set in its own continuity. Its status as a Prequel to the original book also falls into question considering the ending shows Wonka's rivals being exposed as criminals and presumably being arrested, meaning they couldn't have sent spies to steal his recipes like in the book. This implies that this Wonka won't become the recluse he's famous for being. Although, others may have taken over their chocolate companies and kept the names, who would've then been the ones trying to steal Wonka's recipes in the future.
• Angry Guard Dog: Tiddles is a Mastiff owned by Scrubbit and Bleacher whose job is to watch their debtors and make sure they keep working in the washroom.
• Ascended Extra: Wonka's chief rivals, Ficklegruber, Prodnose, and Slugworth, who were The Ghost in the book, serve as the main antagonists to Willy, working together as part of a Chocolate Cartel to control the police and church.
• "Back to Camera" Pose: One of the teaser posters◊ has future chocolatier Wonka with his back to the viewer as he looks upon a giant wall of candy.
• Bag of Holding: Wonka's hat contains a variety of unexpected items, including a candle, chocolate pot, teapot, a bunch of carrots, and a long trail of magician's scarves. In fact, he isn't able to impress Mrs. Scrubbit as he'd like when he first arrives at the boarding house because he pulls the last few items out of it rather than the chocolate-related stuff he intends to.
• Bait-and-Switch: After Wonka is sent away, the Chocolate Cartel gives their final payment to the Chief: a massive box of chocolate that needs to be handled by a crane. It gets dropped on his car, but despite being many times larger, the car emerges unscathed.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: When offered a sample of Wonka's work, Slugworth seems to be deeply moved after tasting the Hover Choc, telling Wonka that it is, without a doubt, the absolute 100%...worst chocolate he's ever tasted, although it's strongly implied that he and the others are lying to try and discourage people from trying Wonka's product, with his private words about Wonka's chocolate being highly respectful of the quality.
• Balloonacy: Wonka and Noodle use a bunch of balloons to leave the zoo and fly over the city during "For a Moment".
• Batman Gambit: When the Chocolate Cartel leaves Wonka and Noodle to drown in a vat of chocolate, Wonka gives them a jar of chocolates and asks them to deliver it to the "little orange man" — knowing very well that they'll eat the chocolates themselves, which are extra-strength, delayed-action Hover Chocs.
• Big Bad Ensemble: On the one hand, there are Scrubbit and Bleacher, the unsavory wash-house owners who trick travelers such as Wonka into signing themselves into indentured servitude. On the other, there's the Chocolate Cartel, a trio of businessmen who hoard and water down their chocolate while using any means, including bribery and murder, to maintain their control of the chocolate industry. The two forces at one point merge as a Big Bad Duumvirate when the Chocolate Cartel bribes the wash-house owners to join them in sabotaging Wonka's business and keep Noodle as prisoner indefinitely but afterwards they go their separate ways again.
• Big "WHAT?!": Wonka lets out one when Noodle reveals she's never had chocolate.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: In the climax, Slugworth has Wonka and Noodle at gunpoint in a secret location where nobody would find their bodies. Does he shoot them? No. He forces them into a vat to be filled with chocolate. An ironic fate maybe, but aside from giving them the chance to escape, if it had worked the Cartel's vast supplies of chocolate would have tasted foul afterwards!
• Brick Joke:
  • There's a fine for daydreaming about the vacant storefront in the city, as Wonka learns to his dismay in his Fantasy Sequence. It's easy to miss, but at the end the castle he purchases has a sign out front that notes "Daydreamers Welcome!", by contrast.
  • When they drug Basil the zoo guard with the Big Night Out Chocolate, he calls a girl he had a crush on when he met her at school. Later, when they break into the Cartel's secret headquarters, one of the guards is a reclusive woman, who turns out to be the exact same girl.
  • Noodle's dream is to find her mother and live with her in a home full of books. Her mother, Dorothy Smith, runs the library, complete with living there, and happily takes Noodle in when they meet.
• Broken Pedestal: Wonka is starstruck when he meets Slugworth for the first time and says he's been following his work for years. Then Slugworth calls his chocolate the worst he's ever had.
• Call-Forward:
  • Victims of Mrs. Scrubbit's contracts end up discovering what they've been tricked into when they're sent down a laundry chute. Veruca Salt has an even nastier experience when she ends up going down a garbage chute in the novel and adaptations.
  • On his first night in the city, Wonka loses his last silver sovereign in a sewer grate. By implication this is the coin Charlie Bucket finds and uses to buy the Wonka Bar containing the last Golden Ticket in the 1971 film.
  • Wonka gets snagged by the innkeeper's fine print contract. The 1971 movie has him prepare a large contract with fine print for the children to sign, which also becomes something that snags Charlie.
  • Wonka grew up on a riverboat. When he opens his chocolate shop, there is a decorative boat on what appears to be a river of frosting. This is presumably why he has a boat for his chocolate river in his factory.
  • As a child, Wonka's mother collects cocoa beans throughout the year to make him one chocolate bar for his birthday. In the in the novel and most adaptations, Charlie's family saves up throughout the year to buy him one Wonka Bar for his birthday.
  • Wonka commits himself to making sure he can provide Noodle with a lifetime supply of chocolate upon seeing how happy a single taste of it makes her. One of the prizes Golden Ticket winners are promised is, of course, a lifetime supply of chocolate. Taken further in the novelization: The epilogue reveals Wonka arranges for Noodle's home to have hot and cold running chocolate, which is also a reference to Prince Pondicherry's palace in the novel.
  • The Big Night Out Chocolate works on similar principles to 3-Course Gum, in this case invoking all the joys and embarrassments of a night on the town.
  • In the climax, Wonka and Noodle are almost drowned in a chamber full of liquid chocolate. Augustus Gloop can relate, the difference being that it was his own fault.
  • Wonka's mother's last chocolate bar contains a message from Wonka's mother written on gold foil, a proto-Golden Ticket.
  • While walking down a staircase in his first night in the city, Wonka hops up a few steps before going back down, just as he does at the beginning of his "Pure Imagination" song in the original film.
  • Wonka sticks his cane in the cobblestones, where it stands up by itself, just as he does in his first scene in the original film.
• Canon Character All Along: Mrs. Scrubbit and Mr. Bleacher are strongly implied to be the couple who grow up to be known as The Twits.
• Can't You Read the Sign?: While looking at the empty shop in the Galeries Gourmet, Willy Wonka starts imagining it as his own chocolate shop. He is interrupted by Officer Affable who fines him three sovereigns; pointing at the "For Rent" sign, which has "No Daydreaming" printed underneath it.
• Casting Gag:
  • Olivia Colman plays Mrs. Scrubbit, a sleazy landlady who overcharges for her services, abuses a young girl under her care, and schemes alongside a fellow con artist (whom she later falls in love with). In short, she's basically Mme. Thénardier, whom Colman portrayed in the 2018 miniseries.
  • Co-writer Simon Farnaby has a minor role playing an easily-fooled security guard, as he previously did in director Paul King's Paddington films.
  • Officer Affable, a by-the-book policeman who turns out to have a hidden heart of gold, is portrayed by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who previously played a similarly kindhearted Prison Warden in Paddington 2.
• Catch-22 Dilemma: "You can't sell chocolate without a shop, and you can't have a shop without chocolate."Wonka manages both, by using a pop-up shop and canvassing.
• The Cavalry: In the climax, Lofty the Oompa-Loompa rescues Wonka and Noodle from drowning in liquid chocolate.
• Chekhov's Gag:
  • When they're getting giraffe milk, one of the ways they calm down the giraffe is with "Acacia Mints" (also Chekhov's Skill: Wonka can create candies animals like). These mints, hidden in the bishop's pocket, allow them to use the same giraffe to clear the upper floor of the chapel.
  • One of the first chocolates Wonka shows off is the hover chocolates, with the Chocolate Cartel trying to make them sound disgusting. In the climax, Wonka produces a jar of them "for Lofty", knowing that they'd steal them and end up floating away — and not before Lofty ambushes them as they leave and from there rescues Wonka and Noodle.
• Chekhov's Gun: The bunch of helium balloons Wonka and Noodle leave the zoo with are shown earlier when they enter the place.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Played with regarding Slugworth's very firm business handshake, which lets others know he means business. It's so strong that the second time he does it, it leaves an imprint of his signet ring on Wonka's hand for a while afterward. Wonka recognizes it as looking similar to the ring Noodle has...
  • The various talents of Wonka's fellow workers in the launderette — accountancy, knowledge of the city's sewers, telephone switchboard work, and being able to make his voice sound like he's underwater — all play a part in Wonka's plan to expose the Chocolate Cartel's corruption. The third skill plays a special role in helping Noodle reunited with her mother.
  • Wonka's talent for stage illusions and vanishing tricks (his original passion before he turned his ambitions to confectionery) ends up coming in handy when he and his friends start selling his wares in the city, as with Piper's help he figures out how to use the streets and their storm drains as a giant stage of trapdoors.
• Christianity is Catholic: The cathedral under which the Chocolate Cartel keeps all their surplus chocolate is very clearly a Catholic one, due to the presence of a confessional booth, monks in brown robes, elaborate decorations inside the building, and the priest, Father Julius, wearing a black robe and a white collar.
• City with No Name: The main setting of the film is never named, with Wonka only referring to it as "the city [he's] pinned seven years of hopes on".
• Close on Title: Provided by the neon sign of Wonka's newly constructed factory lighting up, to be specific.
• Comically Wordy Contract: The contract to rent a room from Mrs. Scrubbit initially appears to be a single normal-sized sheet of paper but unfolds until it nearly reaches across the room.
• Compartment Shot: Wonka letting his last Sovereign drop into the storm drain is shown from within the drain to show both the sinking coin as well as Wonka's disappointed face at the same time.
• Confetti Drop:
  • As "Sweet Tooth" reaches its climax, the Chocolate Cartel's assistants launch one of these.
  • Confetti is tossed for the happy couple during the wedding that's part of the final stretch of "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This"' reprise.
  • Streamers are sent flying at the grand opening of Wonka's chocolate shop during "A World of Your Own".
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Willy's mother is one to Dr. Wilbur Wonka, Willy's Canon Foreigner parent from the 2005 film adaptation, that being the first one that attempted to give Willy a backstory. Wilbur was a strict and controlling single father who shot down his dream of being a chocolatier, with the result that the two were estranged for decades and Willy came to think very poorly of parents as a whole, serving as a Cynicism Catalyst. Ms Wonka was a kind and nurturing single mother who supported his dream to become a chocolatier, but whom he lost at a young age, shaping his idealistic Manchild personality. In both cases, however, the respective Willies make peace with their memories by the movie's end.
• Corrupt Church: The Chocolate Cartel has enlisted the help of a corrupt clergyman and 500 chocoholic monks to guard their ill-gotten chocolate underneath the city's cathedral.
• Credits Gag:
  • In the opening credits, the film is listed as "A Paul King Confection", keeping up with the film's theme.
  • The first stretch of the end credits has Lofty, by way of "The Oompa-Loompa Song", explaining what happened to everyone other than Wonka, Noodle and the Chocolate Cartel.
• Crowd Song: The reprise of "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This" evolves into this as the whole city experiences the wonders of Wonka's wares. Comes in a package with Spontaneous Choreography.
• Dancing with Myself: During the "For a Moment" number at the giraffe house, Wonka swiftly dances with his "jacket on a cane" partner to cheer up Noodle.
• Dark Reprise: "For a Moment" gets one when Wonka is leaving the city, having ensured (he thinks) Noodle's future prosperity but at the expense of the dream they had come to share that Wonka would become a successful chocolatier, and their friendship (it's called "Sorry, Noodle" on the soundtrack).
• Delayed Reaction: When Slugworth says that Wonka's Hoverchocs is "without doubt the absolute 100% worst" chocolate he's ever had, Wonka starts ecstatically talking about how Slugworth has just endorsed his chocolate...then processes what Slugworth actually said.
• Disproportionate Retribution: According to Lofty, anyone who steals from the Oompa-Loompas must pay them back a thousandfold. This is very much Not Hyperbole as Lofty keeps a careful record of how much chocolate he has left to steal from Wonka in order to settle the man's debt, and gets back at the Chocolate Cartel for stealing the Hover Chocs that Wonka intended for him by draining their chocolate mixing chamber, an act that also saves Wonka and Noodle's lives.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Wonka and Noodle come up with the idea of making Scrubbit and Bleacher (who are merely criminal associates) fall in love with one another so much that they pay less attention to Wonka and their other debt victims sneaking out to sell chocolate, with the bonus of the heroes generating enough money at a rapid rate to finally pay off their debts. So while Noodle suggests to Scrubbit that Bleacher is actually aristocracy (inspired by how she tried to seduce an actual aristocrat the previous year), Wonka tells Bleacher that Scrubbit's crazy about him and to do things like bathe and wear short pants to Show Some Leg!
• Dramatically Delayed Drug: Early in the film, Wonka is shown selling "hoverchocs", special chocolates that allow one to fly temporarily. In the climax, he tricks the villains into eating a delayed-action variation of the hoverchocs, which take effect when they try to flee.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After much struggling and almost losing hope, Wonka defeats Slugworth, Fickelgruber and Prodnose by exposing their chocolate cartel, frees his friends from indentured servitude who go on to live happy lives, reunites Noodle with her mother, befriends and employs Lofty, and opens his chocolate shop. The film then ends with him buying the ruined castle that will one day become his famous chocolate factory, happy to have finally achieved his dream.
• Ear Worm: Invoked. When he realizes Wonka doesn't remember taking the cocoa beans, Lofty says he will refresh his memory in the form of a song "so ruinously catchy" that it will never leave his mind: the original Oompa Loompa Song.
• Eat the Evidence: When Wonka and Noodle's discovery of Slugworth's accounting book incriminates Scrubbitt and Bleacher for their part in contaminating Wonka's chocolate with potions that gave the customers horrific mutations (such as Yeti Sweat), police come knocking on the criminal pair's door. The smart thing for them to do would have been for one of them to take all the potion bottles to the bathroom and dump it down the toilet or sink while the other distracts the police^note Though earlier in the film Scrubbit mentioned their toilet was clogged so that may not have been an option.. Instead, they both panic and being too frightened to think rationally they both gulp down the potions themselves. As the police come barging down, we see that they drank so much of it their mutation instantly happened and the police consider them caught red-handed.
• Every Man Has His Price: The Chief of Police is perfectly comfortable taking bribes to focus the police on catching chocolate sellers operating without a shop, which is illegal. He stands firm when the cartel tries to bribe him with more chocolate to rough Wonka up and possibly even kill him. He is tempted but still refuses as they keep increasing how much chocolate they'll pay him with. Once they offer him 1,800 boxes, he instantly agrees.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Both Bleacher and Slugworth have deep, menacing voices. (The latter is notably the most evil of the film's antagonists.) The other villains avert the trope, particularly Prodnose whose voice verges on a falsetto at times.
• Expy: In an interview with Mashable, King stated that he drew inspiration for the villains from other Roald Dahl stories. Slugworth, Ficklegruber, and Prodnose were inspired by Boggis, Bunce, and Bean from Fantastic Mr. Fox, while Ms. Scrubbit was inspired by the titular character of The Landlady.
• Eye of Newt:
  • Wonka explains to the Chocolate Cartel that the salt in his magically floating Hover Chocs comes from the bittersweet tears of a Russian Clown.
  • The "Yeti Sweat" used to contaminate Wonka's chocolate may or may not be an authentic ingredient.
• Failing a Taxi: This is shown to be a problem plaguing the underclass as Wonka points out in "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This".
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: During the Rapid Hair Growth incident at Wonka's newly opened shop, an angry mother cuts the rope to the chandelier which drops to the ground and sets the whole place on fire.
• False Reassurance: On the side of Mrs. Scrubbit's boarding house, visible as Wonka walks upstairs on his first night, is painted the slogan: "Come in for a night, stay forever!"
• Fan Disservice: Bleacher trying to look as sexy as possible for Scrubbit, complete with a close up of his butt in tight shorts! And later on, we see him in a frilly (and equally short) nightgown.
• Fantasy Sequence: Wonka fantasizes about his future of opening a store in a vacant shop, only for a cop to interrupt and tell him that there's a fine for daydreaming in the area.
• Fictional Currency: The only currency used in the film is the "Silver Sovereign", both in the form of actual silver coins, and in paper bills for larger denominations.
• Food as Bribe:
  • The main premise of the "Sweet Tooth" number. Instead of cash, the Chocolate Cartel offers 100 boxes of chocolate to the Chief of Police (specifically of his favorites). The Chief of Police keeps turning it down claiming he must watch his waistline as to not upset his wife. They then offer 700 boxes (plus the business card of a tailor who specializes in "Elastiwaist" pants), then ultimately 1,800 boxes and the Chief accepts. In the reprise of "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This", the Chief of Police comes to regret his decision as he finds Wonka's chocolate much more delicious, even begging the Cartel to give Wonka a break because of this, but is blackmailed by the Cartel to ruin Wonka's business given he already took their bribe.
  • Abacus Crunch is at first reluctant about Wonka selling chocolate and at first tries dissuading him from doing so given it requires sneaking out of the boardinghouse and hassling with the police, but when Noodle gives him one of Wonka's chocolates to taste, Crunch asks, "When do we start?"
• A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Wonka arrives in the city with twelve sovereigns in his pocket, hoping to make his fortune in chocolate. Partly due to bad luck, partly his own naivety, and partly some of his own kindness, he ends up losing it all by the end of the day.
• Foregone Conclusion: No matter what tribulations come his way, Willy Wonka is fated to open a magnificent factory and become the most famous candy maker in the world, it's just a matter of how he is able to get to this point.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Wonka is faced with this at the end of Act Two: stay in the city and continue to pursue his chocolate-making dreams (which tie back to his beloved mother's memory) against all odds, or leave the city forever but with knowledge that all of his friends will be freed from Mrs. Scrubbit's contracts and Noodle will be provided for. He chooses the latter. In fact, the Cartel's not being wholly honest — the adults are free of Scrubbit but poor Noodle remains a prisoner (owing to her unknown relationship to Slugworth), and they are going to kill Wonka in a phony accident. Luckily, he figures out she's in danger on his own and this inadvertently saves him from the "accident".
• Frying Pan of Doom: After Wonka releases Lofty from the jar, Lofty asks Wonka to pass him the frying pan hanging on the wall behind him. Wonka does so, and Lofty immediately hits him in the head with it and runs off with Wonka's chocolates.
• The "Fun" in "Funeral": During the third act, Father Julius has to deal with the chaos caused by Wonka and his friends' raid on the Chocolate Cartel's vault while performing a memorial service for a local nobleman.
• Girls with Moustaches: One juvenile girl who eats Wonka's unknowingly Yeti Sweat-contaminated chocolate at his newly-opened shop grows an orange one while at least one other woman grows a beard. The former's mother joins the angry mob by cutting down a chandelier, causing a fire that burns down the shop.
• Hate Sink: We can't really hate the Chocolate Cartel due to their comedic quirks (although the reveal that Slugworth is Noodle's uncle and why she never knew this makes him truly wicked), but we can hate Mrs. Scrubbit and Mr. Bleacher. They are obviously intended to be as despicable as possible, as they constantly punish Noodle and their other tenants with a workload of debts and chores.
• Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed, but the severe woman who guards the Chocolate Cartel's hidden vault is so moved by the single piece of chocolate (implied to be another Big Night Out Chocolate) that Wonka plants for her that she's not only distracted, she instantly reconsiders working for them. She ends up happily united with Basil the zoo guard in the denouement.
• Hope Spot:
  • In the climax, Noodle and Wonka realize that there is a glass skylight leading into the cathedral at the top of the chocolate mixing tank they're going to be drowned in. They call for help; alas, the only people who see them are the departing Chocolate Cartel members, Slugworth even waving them goodbye. Luckily, The Cavalry arrives soon after and saves them in a different way.
  • Before that, Wonka, Noodle, and their friends finally make enough money to buy the shop building and open his candy shop, which is a resounding success and it seems like Wonka and the others have finally achieved what they wanted in life. Unfortunately, the Chocolate Cartel have paid Scrubbit and Bleacher to taint Wonka's chocolate with potions, causing the customers to start turning colors and growing multi-colored hair after eating Wonka's chocolate. The furious customers start a riot that ends up burning the shop down, leaving Wonka devastated and sending the plot into its Darkest Hour.
• Horrible Housing: When Wonka enters his room at the Boarding House, there are already four buckets on the floor to catch the water coming down from the leaky ceiling. The overhead light is flickering, his bed collapses when he sinks down on it, the wash basin also functions as a toilet and there's no warm water coming from the tap.
• Idea Bulb: When Wonka has an idea thanks to the Silver Lining chocolate, the ceiling light above his head turns on.
• Informed Ability: The dreaded martial artist vault guard only ever demonstrates her martial skills during the montage in which the heroes are learning about the cathedral security precautions (though this talent could tie into how she's a pretty good dancer when she tries the chocolate Wonka and Noodle leave for her as a distraction, precisely so they don't have to confront her).
• Iris Out: A couple of scene transitions via "Iris Out, Iris In", for example when Slugworth and the Chief-of-Police shake hands on their deal to make Wonka go away to the next scene of Bleacher doing a roll call in the morning.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In a non-romantic example, Wonka is prepared to leave town and never make chocolates again in exchange for Slugworth erasing his friends' debts with Scrubbit and Bleacher, and to pay for a better life for Noodle. Once he's onboard a ship bound for the North Pole, he only decides to go back upon realizing Noodle has some kind of relationship with Slugworth and thus may be in danger (he's right), which also saves his life because the boat was rigged to explode.
• Killer Outfit: Larry Chucklesworth almost strangles himself when his necktie gets caught in the mangle during the "Scrub Scrub" reprise!
• Last Chorus Slow-Down: When the Chocolate Cartel still hasn't convinced the Chief to join them by the second chorus of "Sweet Tooth," Slugworth declares, "Gentlemen, let's give it the big sell!" and the last chorus turns into a slow, bombastic cabaret-style number that even the Chief joins in on.
• Logo Joke: In the trailers, the company logos appear as though they're being made out of chocolate. Averted in the actual film.
• Luck-Based Search Technique: Frustrated when searching the vault for the green ledger, Noodle throws an old chocolate box across the room where it hits a pillar and springs open the door of the secret compartment where it's hidden.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Downplayed. Arthur Slugworth is Noodle's uncle, who prevented the marriage of her parents on class grounds and when her father/his brother died and her desperate mother asked him to take care of the sick baby, instead gave the baby to Mrs. Scrubbit and told the mother she died so that there would be no competition for the family fortune.
• Mailman vs. Dog: Wonka theorizes that Tiddles's aggression towards him is caused by his pants originally belonging to a mailman from Minsk which still have a scent that appeals to the dog. Wonka exploits this trope later by using a scrap from his pants as "bait" for Tiddles to happily chase on a treadmill, thus powering the Wild and Wonderful Wishy-washy Wonka Walker.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Turns up at the end of the second act when the ship bound for the North Pole that Wonka was forced to board is revealed to be absent anyone besides him and the Oompa-Loompa, having actually been rigged to explode thanks to the Chocolate Cartel's dealings. Luckily, both barely manage to escape when Wonka runs to the steering room to ask the captain to turn back, and they discover the dynamite.
• Malaproper: When introducing himself to the crowd, Wonka tells a crowd to "quiet up and listen down" before catching himself with his famous "scratch that, reverse it".
• The Mall: The Galeries Gourmet is a large, circular shopping center at the heart of the unnamed city where the film takes place, with a famous and highly expensive store - most notably, those of the Chocolate Cartels - in every direction. A single building lies unattended and open for rent in this center, and Wonka spends much of the film saving up to turn it into his own shop.
• The Matchmaker: Wonka plays this by triggering various people into high levels of pleasure with his chocolate that he adds even helps them dance, sing and propose with higher confidence while he and Noodle concoct a scheme to make Scrubbit and Bleacher more romantically interested in each other to be too occupied to watch their imprisoned debtors in the washroom.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Officer Affable is the Good Counterpart to the corrupt Chief-of-Police.
  • Abacus Crunch was an accountant for Slugworth, and later on becomes both Wonka's accountant and the cashier at Wonka's shop.
  • Noodle's name is randomly given in-universe, but it's a slightly archaic slang term for brain (as in the phrase "using your noodle"), which is appropriate for a highly intelligent, bookish child. The Chief of Police even believes her to be "the brains of the operation" as Wonka manages to sell his chocolate across the city.
• Moody Trailer Cover Song: The first few notes of "Pure Imagination" from the 1971 film can be heard in the score throughout the trailer, which carries over into the film itself as a major motif in the underscore from the opening studio logos onwards. In the denouement Wonka sings the song, with a traditional arrangement but mostly new lyrics, as he reunites Noodle with her mother, and continues as he purchases an old castle and turns it into his factory.
• Motivation on a Stick: Wonka keeps Tiddles treading away on a treadmill by baiting him with a piece of his mailman pants on a stick.
• Move Along, Nothing to See Here: Said by the Police Chief after Wonka demonstrates his Hover Chocs.
  Chief-of-Police: Nothing to see here — just a small group of people defying the laws of gravity.
• Musical Chores: Subverted and lampshaded with "Scrub Scrub", a dirge about the miserable work Mrs.Scrubbit's boarders are forced to do. "But when we sing this song/The day don't seem so long", they explain, but as Larry snarks, "It's still long, though." In the reprise, they realize Wonka's up to something in part because they're not singing the same lyrics.
• The Music Meister: Willy Wonka's chocolates can have this effect. Directly stated in the "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This" musical number:
  Have you tried his new one?
  No!
  Oh you've got to have a go!
  
  Just pop one in and everything
  Becomes a Broadway Show!
  
  The news that makes you gasp
  The jokes that make you laugh
  All that you say and do all day will be choreographed!
• Mythology Gag: Many, mostly specific to the 1971 film.
  • In the closing stretch of "A Hatful of Dreams", when Wonka walks down a staircase and sings "If they have talent and work hard/Or so they say", he suddenly stops and walks backwards up several steps. This is a bit of choreography lifted from "Pure Imagination"; the staircase even looks somewhat similar to its analogue in the Chocolate Room.
  • Wonka first unveils his wares to the public by giving his competitors "Hover Chocs" — chocolates with the same gravity-defying properties as the Fizzy Lifting Drinks from the book and 1971 film.
  • Wonka ends up with five friends at the boarding house, and ends up having the closest relationship with Noodle, the youngest and poorest, while the other four could be seen as the Good Counterpart to the Four Bratty Kids.
  • Noodle's personality and backstory have some strong resemblances to those of Matilda and Miss Honey, being a mistreated bookworm who must work off a "debt" she never deserved. For those familiar with the stage musical adaptation of the novel, the reveal that she is a librarian's daughter and their subsequent happy reunion may be a reference to the Librarian traditionally being played by a black actress.
  • The Chief of Police derisively calls Wonka "Candy Man" during their second encounter.
  • The Oompa-Loompas in this film are clearly based on the versions from the 1971 film; that said, they're closer in size to those from the book and 2005 film.
  • The Oompa-Loompa Wonka deals with is named "Lofty" for being tall compared to his peers — the very same nickname and reason Roald Dahl gained in World War II. However, he later reveals that he is actually a quarter-inch below the average height and is really named "Shortypants" by his fellows.
  • When the Oompa-Loompa first introduces himself, he takes out what is clearly the same flute Wonka will use to summon the Oompa-Loompas, even playing the same melody.
  • The Oompa-Loompa uses the melody of "The Oompa-Loompa Song" from the 1971 film, with new lyrics, to explain his backstory, to mildly taunt Wonka when he's forced to leave the city in less-than-optimal traveling conditions, and finally to wrap up dangling plot threads in the first stretch of the end credits.
  • Wonka's bottles of impossible substances are reused dream bottles of The BFG.
  • The shopping baskets at Wonka's candy shop are edible, as per a lyric from the 1971 film's "The Candy Man": "You can even eat the dishes!"
  • Thanks to eating all those chocolate bribes, the blue-clad Chief-of-Police bears some resemblance to Violet Beauregarde's blueberry form by the denouement. His belt even pops like hers did mid-transformation when the town square rumbles with the imminent release of the hoarded liquid chocolate.
  • Of all characters, Lofty the Oompa-Loompa gets some of Wonka's classic quotes/quotations from the 1971 film, including "Good day sir...I said good day!", and "So shines a good deed in a weary world" upon witnessing Wonka reuniting Noodle with her mother.
  • One of Slugworth's outfits (a dark suit and black hat) is reminiscent of the fake Slugworth's attire from the Wilder film. The bribe he and the other Cartel members offer Wonka is similar to what the fake Slugworth offers the Golden Ticket winners as well.
  • At his newly-opened candy shop, Wonka takes a bite out of an edible cup, just like in the original "Pure Imagination" sequence. Lofty also helps himself to a cup in the chocolate factory.
• Never My Fault: Lofty blames Wonka for getting him banished from Loompaland due to the latter stealing their cocoa beans, and not the fact that he himself had fallen asleep while he was supposed to be guarding them, meaning the other Oompa-Loompas had every right to be angry at Lofty for this. In addition, Wonka also claims that, if he had known Lofty was there and that the beans were being guarded, he would have known not to take them due to having a strong stance against stealing.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The fact that the movie is a musical was left out of almost all of the marketing. In fact the first trailer features the Oompa-Loompas even lampshades the original film's musical status by making it seem like Wonka didn't want the Oompa Loompas to sing.
• Noodle Incident: Or incidents; as Noodle scolds him for his illiteracy getting him nearly (his emphasis) eaten by a tiger at the zoo, Wonka tells her that he's been nearly eaten by a lot of things, "and none of them got more than a nibble!"
• Not Helping Your Case: When Wonka tries to warn his customers that his chocolate has been spiked with potions, he makes the critical mistake of referring to it as a poisoning, which sparks an already upset crowd into a riot that destroys his newly opened shop.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Or polite nemesis, as the case may be. Wonka cannot convince anyone that "the little orange man" who steals his stock is real because he always gets away before anyone else can see him (and the one time Wonka captures him, he tricks his way into escaping). The only characters who see Lofty besides Wonka are Father Julius (and Lofty promptly knocks him unconscious with an empty jar) and Noodle, who briefly sees and thanks him when Lofty saves her and Wonka from being drowned in the chocolate.
• Of Corsets Funny: When the Chief of Police is afraid that eating the Cartel's chocolate bribes will make his wife mad, Fickelgruber slips him a business card reading "Gürdels: Home of the Elasti-Pant!" along with an illustration of a well-dressed man in a very tight corset!
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Spoofed with the chocoholic monks, who are always doing this (though not always in Latin). When they first appear their chanting is actually to the tune of "Sweet Tooth" a few minutes before the song is performed onscreen.
• Origins Episode: The film follows a younger Willy Wonka attempting to become a chocolate maker and shop owner, being set many years before the events of the book. The ending of the film shows Willy buying what will become his factory, with a montage showing it being built over time. It's this for the Oompa-Loompas too, although their appearance is already the same as in the 1971 version.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket: Noodle is named for the initial on the ring she was found with; her hope is to one day track down her parents with it. In fact it's an heirloom of the Slugworth family, and it's a Z not an N, being the first initial of Arthur's late brother (making Arthur her uncle...who abandoned her rather than help her when she was ill, while telling her desperate mother the child did not survive).
• Percussive Maintenance: During The Stinger, the Oompa-Loompa gets the projector working after it stops by thumping it.
• Pet the Dog:
  • When Wonka protests that he needs the earnings the police have confiscated from him to pay for his room stay, Officer Affable gives him the one silver sovereign he needs to cover the cost.
  • Downplayed after Slugworth lies to his destitute almost sister-in-law that her baby daughter has died: he does give her a handful of money before sending her away, although his face indicates this is more of a dismissive gesture than a compassionate one (especially given that it's a direct analogue to how Wonka compassionately gives up some of his few silver sovereigns to a poor woman with a baby at the beginning of the film).
  • While the cartel try to kill Willy after sending him out of town and lie about giving Noodle a better life, they do actually pay off the debts of the other workers rather than leave them to rot as well, and Scrubbit and Bleacher let them go rather than just pocketing the money.
  • Played for Laughs when the adult tenants of the boarding house are freed and Bleacher tells Larry he should keep working on his act because he at least thinks he's talented. Of course, Bleacher can't help but be menacing and Larry nervously responds with "You frighten me."
• Pinky Swear: Wonka makes one with Noodle, promising to help improve her life. This was something his mother did for him, promising they would go to the Galeries Gourmet together.
• Politically Correct History: The film appears to be set in Europe circa the 1910s (given the presence of cars, electricity, and speedboats, the clothes the townspeople are wearing, and the existence of a German aristocracy) and has black men as both wealthy businessmen and high ranking police officers.
• Produce Pelting: Poor Wonka gets pelted with his own products when Scrubbit and Bleacher's tampering causes said candies to cause unnatural, colorful hair growth in its consumers. This escalates into the whole shop being destroyed.
• Punishment Box: Mrs. Scrubbit punishes Noodle regularly by locking her in "the coop", a tiny pigeon coop that is largely open to the outside winter air.
• Punny Name: Most of the characters' names are puns of some kind.
  • Mrs. Scrubbit runs the boarding house/laundry.
  • Her partner in crime is Bleacher, another reference to laundry.
  • Slugworth's secretary is named Miss Bon-Bon.
  • Abacus Crunch was once an accountant; the name's specifically a variant on the expression "number cruncher".
  • Piper Benz was once a plumber.
  • Lottie Bell once worked for the telephone company.
  • Larry Chucklesworth used to be a comedian.
  • Noodle is a clever bookworm; that is to say, she "uses her noodle" a lot.
• Rapid Hair Growth: Among Wonka's various chocolates is his Hair Repair Eclair, able to restore hair on any bald person or cat. Later in the movie, his chocolate creations are tampered with, causing the customers to unexpectedly grow lots of hair.
• Read the Fine Print: Wonka is trapped into basically slavery in the launderette owned by the owner of the house where he stayed on his first night in town because he literally couldn't read the fine print due to him being illiterate.
• Roadside Wave: After his marriage proposal is turned down, Colin is drenched by a passing taxi that fails to stop for him.
• Roll Out the Red Carpet: One is rolled out the door of Wonka's shop as it's unveiled to customers in "A World of Your Own".
• Rube Goldberg Device: There's Wonka's "Wild and Wonderful Wishy-washy Wonka Walker" and later his elaborate contraption to catch Lofty who sneaked into his room at night.
• Running Gag:
  • The Chocolate Cartel and Wonka constantly pay people in chocolate, to the point that, during the launch of his shop, an option is to receive change in chocolate coins.
  • One of Wonka's chocolates, which emulates a night on the town, is constantly used as a sedative, with the zookeeper regularly knocked out by it.
  • At the zoo, Wonka and Noodle wonder why the flamingoes never just fly off and leave their enclosure. Inspired by the humans' Balloonacy in "For a Moment", they do, and appear flying over the city several scenes later. During the climactic stretch, they become part of a traffic jam (that Slugworth's car gets caught in) when they swoop down on the bounty left by a wrecked truck that was transporting fresh fish.
  • Whenever Slugworth or Fickelgruber make implied threats regarding Willy and his friends, Prodnose explicitly clarifies them, up to and including things like "...in which they died."
• Sad Clown: A literal example provided one of Wonka's ingredients: "[T]he bittersweet tears of a Russian clown."
• Schmuck Bait: After freeing Lofty to discuss negotiations, Lofty non-sequentially asks Willy to hand him one of the miniature frying pans hanging on a rack. He specifically clarifies the heavier one. After handing it to him, he asks Willy to come closer, to which he obliges. Take a wild guess what happens next.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: While Wonka could get away with charging high prices for his chocolate due to their fantastical nature and taste, he instead offers it at low cost because he cares more about having it enjoyed by as many people as possible than making a fortune.
• Sequel Hook: While the story of the movie itself is pretty open-shut with Wonka ruining the Chocolate Cartel and getting them and their accomplices all arrested—and helping both his new adult friends and Noodle all get where they want to be, he also convinces the Oompa Loompa to bring all of his kind to live in his new factory that they then start construction on immediately—not to mention that the sovereign he lost in the storm drain earlier will eventually make its way to Charlie Bucket as well—just in time for the eventual factory tour in the years to come too.
• Shaped Like Itself: When Mrs. Scrubbit asks Bleacher how Bavaria is, he responds with "It's very Bavarian".
• Shoe Shine, Mister?: Wonka pays twice for a Shoe Shine Boy when he arrives in the city.
• Shout-Out:
  • There's an opera house near St. Benedict's Cathedral; a look at its marquee reveals it's putting on a production of The Chocolate Soldier.
  • While traffic is being blocked by a herd of flamingos and Slugworth learns that suspicious activity has occurred at the church about his secret base, he exclaims to his driver, "Damn the flamingos, Donovan! Floor it!" This line parodies the famous (shortened version of the) quote by U.S. (Union) Rear Admiral David Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay in the American Civil War.
• Single Tear: Wonka sheds one while he is surrounded by the burned ruins of his chocolate shop after his customers turn against him.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Officer Affable, not knowing about the Chief's deal with the chocolate cartel, lampshades this when the Chief increases the police's efforts to capture Wonka for illegally selling chocolate:
    Affable: Sir, shouldn't we focus on those unsolved murders?
    Chief of Police: No, this takes priority!
  • This is one of Wonka's familiar character flaws retained in this prequel: The reason he can't read as an adult, by his admission, is that he was so preoccupied with becoming a master at chocolate-making. Even in the climax, where he and Noodle are about to be drowned in liquid chocolate, his first thought is to start putting his own ingredients into it so they can at least drown in Wonka chocolate and spite the villains.
• Spit Take: Prodnose spits his chocolate milk when he sees Wonka's floating Hover Chocs.
• Spontaneous Choreography: Lampshaded in the reprise of "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This", as Wonka and his friends "gossip" that his candies are so good they make this happen!
• Suddenly Voiced: Sort of. Oompa-Loompas have always sung in the book and adaptations, but in this film Lofty talks normally with Wonka too.
• Suspiciously Idle Officers: After he's been bribed with 1,800 boxes of chocolate, the Chief of Police devotes all his and his men's efforts to capturing Wonka and making sure he 'suffers an accident'. Officer Affable, an honorable cop merely following orders, lampshades this by asking whether all of the hunting down is necessary. They shouldn't be, like, investigating all those unsolved murders. This shows that the police have been blatantly neglecting their duties in favor of doing the chocolate cartel's bidding.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: When Wonka first opens his shop, the chocolate has been sabotaged with potions, such as "Yeti Sweat", causing the customers to unexpectedly grow lots of hair and their skin turn crazy colours. This was done by Scrubbit and Bleacher, under the orders of Slugworth.
• Third-Act Misunderstanding: Downplayed. Wonka chooses to leave the city and give up his dream of selling chocolate in exchange for the Chocolate Cartel paying off his friends' debts and providing Noodle money to have a good life. The others actually feel rather betrayed by this decision but reluctantly accept the deal. Scrubbit and Bleacher reveal that Slugworth and the others actually paid them to keep her in their custody for good to get her out of the way. When Wonka finds out about this however (and survives an assassination attempt on the boat), the others understand pretty much immediately and forgive him because this sort of thing sounds exactly like something the Cartel would pull. Noodle requires a bit more convincing, less due to her not trusting Wonka but more because of how bad things have gotten by that point.
• Toilet Humor:
  • The Hover Chocs contain the egg of a gravity-defying insect that hatches once eaten, enabling the person who consumes them to temporarily fly... at least until the larva decides to excrete itself from their body.
  • In a literal example, according to Noodle the sink in the servant's quarters doubles as the toilet.
  • There's also a literal example offscreen — during the morning roll call the day Wonka and Noodle hatch their plan to convince Mrs. Scrubbit that Bleacher is a nobleman, Scrubbit can be heard from upstairs calling for Bleacher's help with a backed-up toilet that, by the time Bleacher heads upstairs, has resulted in ankle-deep water.
  • When singing his backstory, Lofty bends over and farts a cloud of smoke into Wonka's face.
• Tragic Keepsake: Wonka carries the last bar of chocolate his mother made with him, including the handmade wrapper with "Wonka" written on it. During the celebration upon his defeating the Chocolate Cartel, he opens it, revealing a message from his mother (written on gold foil) that also is the secret of chocolate that she never got to tell him in life: The most important thing is not what's in it, but who it's shared with. As such, he breaks the six squares apart, and gives one each to his five friends before eating the remaining one.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Most of the promos make good use of the chocolate factory sequence, which doesn't happen until the end of the film. Then again, Wonka building his factory is pretty much a Foregone Conclusion.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: "For a Moment" shifts three semitones down or up depending on who of the two characters is singing the verse.
• Villain Has a Point: Bleacher is luring Wonka into indentured servitude when he gets him to come off the streets into the hotel, but he is right to warn Wonka that he will freeze to death if he tries sleeping outside in weather so cold that it instantly turns a glass of hot chocolate into a frozen pop which. Wonka sees the point and goes along with Bleacher's suggestion.
• Villain Song: "Sweet Tooth" for the Chocolate Cartel, in which they exploit the Chief-of-Police's love of sweets and bribe him with an obscene amount of chocolate, shading into Villain Recruitment Song as he is initially reluctant about persecuting the harmless Wonka.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: "Scrub Scrub" has the "employees" of Mrs. Scrubbit's laundry lamenting their cruel plight, not that she and Bleacher are bothered by it.
• Visual Pun: In the denouement, the town square ends up with a literal chocolate fountain, thanks to Wonka's friends diverting the "freed" chocolate supply the cartel hoarded. The pun provides the title of the corresponding score cue on the soundtrack album.
• Vocal Dissonance: Played for Laughs. The Chocoholic Monks say everything in the tone of a calm Latin chant. Even when they are panicking.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Whatever became of the customers who ate Wonka's contaminated chocolates that caused them to suffer unnatural hair color and skin color changes is not shown.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: For the first stretch of the end credits, Lofty uses one last performance of "The Oompa-Loompa Song" to share how Wonka's fellow wash-house prisoners returned to their lives before showing Scrubbit and Bleacher being arrested for their part in the Cartel's crimes.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The action takes place in an unnamed European city (the film was shot in the United Kingdom); no clue is given about what country it could be in. This follows on from the 1971 version, and most that have followed, deliberately invoking this trope.
  • The currency used by all the characters is the "silver sovereign", which no country in the real world ever used.
  • The sign in Prodnose's shop window is written in Italian (reading "Cioccolato di Qualitá," or "Quality Chocolate") while the sign in Fickelgruber's window is in German (reading "Feinste Schokolade," or "Finest Chocolate").
  • There are notices visible in a phone box in German, and the police wear German police shakos (but in blue) and Imperial German-style epaulettes.
  • And to add to the confusion, the accents of all the residents are all over the place.

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"Mark my words, this is going to be the greatest chocolate shop the world has ever seen!"

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