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Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) is a poor boy who lives near the Wonka Candy Company. The company's owner, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp), has for long closed access to his factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage that led him to fire all his employees, among them Charlie's Grandpa Joe (David Kelly). One day, Wonka informs of a contest, in which Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will be given a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate, while one ticketholder will be given a special prize at the end of the tour.Wonka's sales subsequently skyrocket, and the first four tickets are found fairly quickly. The recipients are Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), a gluttonous German boy; Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), a very spoiled English girl; Violet Beauregarde (AnnaSophia Robb), a competitive American gum chewer, and Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), an arrogant American television and video game addict. Charlie tries twice to find a ticket, but both bars come empty. After overhearing that the final ticket was found in Russia, Charlie finds a ten-dollar note, and purchases a Wonka Bar at a news shop. At the exact moment it was revealed that the Russian ticket was forged, Charlie discovers the real fifth ticket inside the wrapper. Charlie first considers an offer of $500 for the ticket, but is persuaded to keep it, and brings Grandpa Joe to accompany him on the factory tour.
Charlie and the other ticket holders are greeted by Wonka outside the factory, who then leads them into the facility. During the tour, each of the bad children disobey Wonka's orders after being tempted by something related to their individual character flaws, and suffer various consequences: Augustus is sucked up a chocolate extraction pipe after falling into a chocolate river from which he was drinking, Violet swells up into an oversized blueberry after chewing unstable three-course-meal gum, Veruca is pushed into a garbage chute by worker squirrels after she tries to take one as a pet, and Mike is shrunk with a teleporter that he uses on himself. Wonka's employees, the Oompa-Loompas (Deep Roy) sing a song of morality after each elimination. The children later leave the factory with an exaggerated characteristic or deformity related to their demise – Augustus covered in chocolate, Violet blue-colored, Veruca covered in garbage, and Mike outstretched.
Wonka then invites Charlie to come live and work in the factory with him, and reveals that the purpose of the Golden Tickets and the tour was to make the "least rotten" child the heir of the factory itself. The only catch is that Charlie must leave his family behind, because Wonka believes family is a hindrance while a chocolatier needed creative freedom – a philosophy Wonka developed due to his dentist father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka (Christopher Lee), denying his son candy because of the potential risk to his teeth, and forcing him to wear medieval-looking braces. After sneaking over a piece of candy, Wonka was instantly hooked, and ran away to follow his dreams.
As his family is the most important thing in his life, Charlie refuses Wonka's offer. Charlie and his family are living contently a while later, however Wonka is too depressed to make candy the way he used to, and turns to Charlie for advice. Charlie decides to help Wonka confront and reconcile with his estranged father; Wonka finally realizes the value of family, while his father learns to accept his son for who he is, and not what he does. In the end Charlie owns the chocolate factory, his family takes residence within it and Wonka has patched up with his family.
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