| Director | Paul King |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure film, comedy film, fantasy film, musical film, speculative fiction film |
| Runtime | 116 min |
| Country | Canada, United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $125 million |
| Box office | $634.5 million |
Willy Wonka, a young chocolatier, arrives at the Galéries Gourmet with dreams of establishing his own chocolate shop. Wonka is coerced to stay at Mrs. Scrubitt's boarding house by her co-worker, Bleacher, and unknowingly signs a predatory contract due to his illiteracy. The next day, he introduces "hoverchocs", which make the consumer fly, but rival chocolatiers Arthur Slugworth, Gerald Prodnose, and Felix Fickelgruber have Wonka's earnings confiscated by Officer Affable for selling without a shop. Unable to pay the contract's exorbitant fees, Wonka is forced to work in Scrubbitt's launderette alongside her foster daughter, Noodle, and fellow captives Abacus Crunch, Piper Benz, Larry Chucklesworth, and Lottie Bell.
Wonka befriends Noodle, who agrees to teach him how to read. Meanwhile, the "Chocolate Cartel" bribe the Chief of Police to torment Wonka. Crunch, having previously worked for Slugworth as an accountant, reveals that the Cartel has a secret vault of chocolate, used for bribes to maintain their power. Wonka and the launderette workers embark on a chocolate-selling crusade to alleviate their debts, using the city's storm drains to evade the police. Wonka discovers his chocolates are being pilfered by an Oompa Loompa named Lofty, who seeks retribution for the cocoa beans Wonka took from Loompaland under his watch.
Wonka finally opens his dream chocolate shop, but the Cartel enlist Scrubitt to sabotage his chocolates with Yeti sweat and different unnamed "poisons". As a result, Wonka's customers become disfigured from the sabotaged chocolates and are outraged. Chaos ensues, leading to the destruction of the shop. Wonka reluctantly accepts the Cartel's offer to pay off everyone's debts in exchange for him leaving town by boat. The laundry workers are released, but Slugworth pays Scrubitt to keep Noodle indefinitely. Wonka deduces that Noodle and Slugworth are related, before he, with Lofty aboard, realizes the Cartel has rigged the boat to explode. After escaping from the boat and rescuing Noodle, Wonka and his friends devise a strategy to obtain the Cartel's incriminating account book.
Wonka and Noodle infiltrate the Cartel's headquarters, only to be confronted by the Cartel. Slugworth reveals that following the death of Noodle's father, his own brother Zebedee, he lied to her mother Dorothy Smith that Noodle had died as well and gave the newborn to Scrubitt. Held at gunpoint and locked in the Cartel's vault of liquid chocolate, Wonka and Noodle nearly drown, but Lofty, still seeking reimbursement from Wonka, rescues them.
Wonka and Noodle expose the Cartel's misdeeds, releasing their chocolate reserves into the city fountain, now laced with Wonka's unique ingredients, ruining the Cartel's enterprise. The Cartel float away, having eaten Wonka's hoverchocs, and the Chief is arrested by Affable. Wonka reunites Noodle with her mother and purchases an abandoned castle that he transforms into his own chocolate factory, with Lofty heading the tasting department.
During the credits, Lofty shows footage of Wonka's friends returning to their old lives, while Affable leads the arrests of Scrubitt and Bleacher.