During "A Hatful Of Dreams", Willy has six silver sovereigns when he enters the Galeries Gourmet, but only has two left when he sees the mother and her child near the end of the song. This implies that he paid Officer Affable four sovereigns when he was fined for daydreaming, even though the sign only asked for three. As we learn later, Willy wouldn't have been able to read the sign, and Affable had only told him what he was being fined for, not the amount he was being charged.
Related to this, when Affable Willy a sovereign back the next day, it was more than kindness from Affable to help a man in need, he was returning money that was overpaid.
It isn't too surprising that the only no daydreaming sign shown in the movie is in Galeries Gourmet, as anyone daydreaming there is likely to be an impoverished future competitor of Slugworth and the others, and the fine is just another measure to crush their spirits and make it harder for them to buy a shop. The ordinance also provides a bit of Foreshadowing about the police force that enforces it having a corrupt chief.
Wonka being nicer than some previous versions isn't only because this is a Prequel where he's yet to become more cynical about people. Unlike other incarnations, this Willy is explicitly shown to have grown up with a loving, encouraging mother who gave him chocolate as a gift on his birthday, which is basically the opposite of Burton's version of his backstory, where he has a cold father who won't even let him have candy on the one day of the year that's all about getting it. While both were enthusiastic about it, that Willy Wonka became a chocolatier (at least partially) out of spite, whereas this Willy Wonka found it based on love and nostalgia, so of course he's more idealistic overall.
Also, if we consider the 1971 movie a direct sequel of this story, not only do Slugworth, Prodnose and Fickelgruber somehow manage to return to their lives a chocolate makers (albeit with no longer near the crazy amount of success the much kinder and honest Wonka reached), but they managed to re-establish their businesses and bad practices enough to routinely send spies to steal Wonka's secret recipes. Wonka had to realize that the greedy still win over the needy, and needed to be reminded of the good side of humanity by Charlie.
A giraffe having a prominent role in the story may seem random, but it's not unlikely that it's meant to be a reference to The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, a short novel by Roald Dahl which also featured a protagonist who wants to open a sweet shop (and since it actually takes place in the same universe as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it ends up selling Wonka's candies among other things), just like Wonka in this film.
When the Chocolate Cartel decide to drown Wonka and Noodle in their chocolate, Slugworth asks the others how many gallons they have available, with him stating his amount last and having the most. This is possibly a reference to Fantastic Mr. Fox, a story by Roald Dahl in which three rich men attempt to stop the protagonist from taking their business, and at one point each one states how many men they have working for them as part of their plan to stop him, with the smartest having the most.
The Chocolate Cartel act as a parallel to the Four Bratty Kids:
Slugworth, as the ringleader and most successful of them all, is greedy and looks down upon those of a lower class, including Noodle's mother; he's Veruca Salt.
Prodnose is a dumbass who keeps falling victim to Don't Explain the Joke; a parallel to the sedentary, uncreative Mike Teevee.
Fickelgruber is an Upper-Class Twit who believes himself superior to everyone else; he's Violet Beauregard (a weak link, based mostly on the 2005 version, admittedly, but then again Violet's only real crime in the original was chewing gum, something Dahl just personally hated).
The Chief of Police keeps getting bribed in chocolate to the point that he gains over 150 pounds by the end; obviously, he's Augustus Gloop.
Alternately, Slugworth is Violet (the one most focused on being better than other people), and Fickelgruber is Veruca (looks down on the poor while not doing all that much to further his goals himself and basking in his wealth as others do the heavy lifting).
In the 1971 movie the first Oompa Loompa song is a cautionary tale against eating too much chocolate. As weird as it can seem coming from a chocolatier, the first real enemies Willy Wonka had to face were a corrupt Chief of Police and 500 monks, all of them addicted to chocolate and enslaved to the Cartel because of it. Wonka clearly remembered it.
Why does Willy Wonka go on to hide five Golden Tickets? Because he makes five friends at the boarding house.
Also how Wonka crowns Charlie his only heir makes sense: when he passes the Secret Test of Character by refusing to sell the Everlasting Gobstopper to Fake!Slugworth he quips he familiar "So shines a good deed in a weary world": a Shakespeare quote he heard from Lofty (remember that Wonka was barely literate by then) about Noodle being finally reunited to her mom. Also he remembers merrily to Charlie that "the man who suddenly got everything he wanted [...] lived happily ever after". At that point Charlie was both a young Willy Wonka, the idealistic youngster with no money but only dreams who suddenly realized what he truly wanted the very moment he got it, and a new Noodle, the idealistic child coming from a jaded, sad life remembering Willy Wonka what it mattered. Wonka had already seen firsthand the effects of a "good deed", and had already seen a poor child gaining happiness by being granted a simple wish (reuniting with her mother in a big house full of books for Noodle, reuniting with his impoverished family in a big house full of chocolate for Charlie).
While this Willy Wonka is more openly heroic than in other adaptations or the original novel, it is in keeping with the events of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which establishes that he cares so much about the Oompa-Loompas that he risked his life in Minusland to rescue the ones de-aged by Wonka-Vite...one at a time.
Wonka is so devoted to chocolate making that he neglected to learn to read, risked his life multiple times to the point that he brags that none of the things that tried to eat him "got more than a nibble", and can't think of anything to do when threatened with drowning in chocolate except add his own ingredients to it so it will at least be his chocolate. All of this points to the extreme Skewed Priorities he has down the line—if he's more concerned with chocolate than his well-being it's no wonder he's not that concerned with what becomes of the Four Bratty Kids!
When Lofty talks about having to go back to Loompaland, he never mentions any hornsnogglers, snozzwangers, or those terrible wicked whangdoodles. But if Oompa-Loompas are technologically advanced enough to build boats, jetpacks, and portable cocktail bars, then surely they must also have siege engines to keep the monsters at bay.
The ingredient that causes the most potent hair growth is Yeti Sweat. While it sounds disgusting, it fits this creature would have such a fantastical sweat. As a creature who lives in the coldest of environments, its hair is its primary protection from the cold. Having sweat which stimulates its regrowing as it sweats means it will be regaining its lost hair in ample quantity to survive.
Wonka obviously learned to love reading, as in the 1971 film he's constantly rattling off a wide assortment of literary quotes during the tour.
Crunch has a wife and daughters, but did they ever even know about his enslavement (it's doubtful Scrubbit and Bleacher give their workers writing material and letters)? Even if they did (like if he alerted them after a short-lived escape), they'd still have spent years knowing their husband, father, and provider was trapped in that horrible life with nothing they could do.
Officer Affable asks the Chief if they should really be spending so many police resources cracking down on Wonka and not, say, investigating all those unsolved murders. What are the odds that those unsolved murders were actually the other people who tried to sell chocolate, and were killed by the Chocolate Cartel?
And even if the Chocolate Cartel has nothing to do with the murders at all, there's still at least one murderer on the loose in the city who's being ignored because of the Cartel. With the Chief being out of action, one can only hope Affable makes the murder investigations a priority.
Despite Wonka claims he took care of the ability the Chocolate Cartel had to bribe their way out of jail by depleting their source of chocolate, we know from the 1971 movie that they all returned to do business and Wonka became an embittered recluse trying to prevent them from stealing his secrets. Wonka did weaken their power and influence, but he couldn't eradicate them.
Speaking of, we never learn what became of Noodle in the time between this movie and the 1971 film.
Given that she got everything she always wanted, it stands to reason that she lives Happily Ever After — turning this into Fridge Brilliance.
Given how Mrs. Scrubbit reacts when Noodle tries to warn Wonka away from staying at their inn, it's likely there was a much harsher punishment in store for her if she'd actually succeeded. Maybe a good thing Wonka couldn't read after all.
