Disclaimer! Before watching any movie, make sure it’s right for you and your family. Common Sense Media is an amazing tool to help inform if this film is one you’ll watch with your family.
The Gift of the Golden Ticket – The chance to enter the chocolate factory is an extremely valuable gift. So valuable that the entire world stops to hunt for that gift. Compare this gift to the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus explains it in MATTHEW 13:44-46. Everyone that finds a golden ticket believes that they deserve it in one way or another. All except Charlie, who actually does value the gift.. How do you view the gift God has given you? Read and discuss EPHESIANS 2:8-9.
“If You Want to View Paradise” – If you could create your own personal paradise, what would it look like? Here we see what Willy’s paradise looks like: completely edible, fantastic, and strange. It’s a taste of what a perfect world can look like. REVELATION 21:4 gives us a taste of what paradise will be like. This paradise isn’t closed off to everyone except those who win a golden ticket. In JOHN 14:6 Jesus tells us how we can enter paradise.
What Kind of God is Willy? You can’t watch this movie without realizing that there’s something off about Willie Wonka. He has this world he’s created and everything must bend to his will. He is the one with the final say, but he also tries to tempt and trick his visitors. How is Willy Wonka like God? How is he unlike God? Read JAMES 1:13-15 and compare it to what Willy does with Slugworth. Willy is also a bit temperamental. Do you ever feel like God is temperamental like Willy? Read and discuss HEBREWS 13:8.
Charlie Wins the Factory! Even though he’s the poorest of the contestants, Charlie wins the factory. How does this remind you of the Kingdom of God? Read MATTHEW 5:1-12. Charlie resists the decoy Slugworth and proves himself to Willy. Luckily, we don’t have to prove ourselves to God. ROMANS 6:23 shows us that we get a gift much better than a chocolate factory AND we get it for free.
