Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was made by Paramount into the motion picture Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971. Directed by Mel Stuart, the movie stars Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. His is a marvelous interpretation of the bizarre character who can do almost anything at any moment.

The screenplay was written by Dahl himself, and it provides the narrative with more suspense than is found in the novel: By disobeying one of Wonka's many rules, Charlie may lose all that he has won. The Oompa-Loompas are interesting but somewhat disappointing because they lack the unusual clothes of the characters in the novel.

They sing clever songs throughout the motion picture; these songs make each moral lesson clear as the naughty children suffer for their bad behavior. As a whole, the movie captures the wondrous spirit of the novel, bringing Wonka's strange factory to life.