MovieChat Forums > Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Discussion > Never seen this. How many musical number...

Never seen this. How many musical numbers are there?


I hate musicals but I can sit through them if there aren't many songs.

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Quite a few. It's pretty much a musical.

Personally, I like musicals, and the songs in this film are actually the highlight, along with Gene Wilder's performance, but if you hate musicals you may not respond so well to this film. That said, there are other highlights, such as the various punishments the bad children suffer, so maybe you could just fast-forward through the songs.

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Thanks. That sounds like a pass for me.

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Shame. It's a great film, but, yeah, if you're not a fan of musicals, I supposed you should be warned, there's a fair few songs.

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I think you can fast forward through the musical numbers and still enjoy the film, might even like some of the musical numbers too.

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I can't do that. I have to watch a film beginning to end.

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Then probably don't watch. Or maybe look up one of the musical numbers to see if it's bearable or not, then decide whether to watch or not.

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I just watched this after not having seen it since I was (I think) in 5th grade and we read the book for class. I didn't remember all the singing. Not a fan of musicals myself, so I didn't really enjoy those, but thankfully the rest of it was good. And at least it wasn't constant singing.

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I think I'm going to pass on this. Musicals are bad enough but it's also a kids movie.

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I'm in my late 40's and I enjoyed it. Gene Wilder is great. If you think you'll smile at seeing some bratty kids get their comeuppance, you'll like this.

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The music numbers are very short and painless (except the one the mom sings which seems to go on for half an hour).

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I don't agree there at all. I liked that segment. The actress' singing voice sounds good and it's uplifting. I've learned now from the internet that several people hate it. Guess I am a maverick.

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It's a very good film but yeah, there's probably about 10 songs or so. In my view, the songs are more like comedy skits rather than major parts of the story. It's not like concert style film-making like Moulin Rouge, which is probably my favorite musical. The musical numbers in WW are more relaxed rather than in your face.

Here's the scene when they first enter the factory, name of the song is Pure Imagination.

Watch this, if you just can't get into it then maybe its not the best thing to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ-uV72pQKI&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

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That clip is one of the reasons I hate musicals so much. The songs are almost never catchy and it takes away from the main story. The art-direction looks nice, but I don't think I could sit through songs like that.

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Go watch the family guy version, then go back to the movie with a new view. LOL.

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Samoan,

How can you not like Pure Imagination? lol...

Okay, some musicals are annoying, I will admit it, but this is truly a great film. You just have to watch it to get why it's loved by so many. The characters are unforgettable, the factory itself has some of the best film sets ever designed, and, as others have said, Gene's performance is top notch.

It's just a fun movie to watch even if you dislike musicals. But then again, if you just hate musicals no matter what, you probably won't like it. But I still recommend it.

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Visually it looks fine and I like imagination, but musicals really annoy me. Even the musicals I've liked I feel would have been better without the music.

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