Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

One of the most famous children's films ever, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, has been remade by Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas). Who knows why Burton was initially inspired to remake the classic film starring Gene Wilder. The original film was based off of the novel written by Roald Dahl and the remake is no is an attempt to be even truer to the book. When I first saw the Charlie and the Chocalte Factory trailer I had many questions going through my head. How are the Oompa Loompas going to be portrayed, and is Wonka going to be a freak like in the original? For this version of the film the oompa loompas are all played by Deep Roy, which is his fourth role in a Tim Burton film, including the upcoming Corpse Bride which also stars this film's Johnny Depp (who plays the great Willy Wonka), and Helena Bonham Carter (who plays Mrs. Bucket, Charlie's mother). Roy does an excellent job playing the oompa loompas having one of the funniest roles in the film. The outcome for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory should be very pleasing to any young adults and to any little children. It is filled with fun imagination for the whole family.

 

Smarts

79%

Like the original film, the book written by Roald Dahl is a classic. Read by millions of children around the world almost everyone knows who Willy Wonka is. The dialogue is fresh and easy to understand and the world is innovative and appealing to the child in all of us.

Depp is one of the best actors of our time, the man knows how to act and he does it very well. One of the things I loved about the original was how Gene Wilder played a man who seemed so nice and yet was so crazy. Depp still puts on a great show, but his timidity and less over-the-top quirkiness has to be the biggest disappointment of the whole film. Freddie Highmore plays Charlie, a kid who is fortunate just to be at the factory if you know the story. Getting into the factory is all luck for Charlie due to his chance finding of the last golden ticket into Wonka's world the day before the invitation date and his chance finding of a ten dollar bill on the ground with which to buy the chocolate bar. One of my favorite actresses, Helena Bonham Carter, stars in the film. Like Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton sticks with his favorite actors and actress for his movies. She does an excellent job at playing the downtrodden Mrs. Bucket, even though most of the time she has on screen she is doing little more than cutting cabbage.

The sets in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are absolutely amazing. The recreation of the room where everything is edible is magic and I ponder just how much of the scenery we see on film can be eaten. Additionally, some of the best lines in the film are delivered in this room.

Danny Elfman does the music for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The music fits the film well. It's not the best he's done, but it's not bad. The film opens with excellent music to a very cool opening scene revolving around how chocolate is wrapped up into its bar form.

 

Popcorn

77%

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is rated PG.  That means you are going to get a lot of kid jokes. This film is not like Shrek or Shrek 2 where the audience was given a lot of humor that adults would get and a lot of children's humor on the side. There are only a couple of jokes for the adults but most should like the film, nonetheless, with our without humor. The kid jokes didn't bore me or my ninteen year old brother.  And there is, of course, a sadistic pleasure one gets as the loathsome children accompanying Charlie on his journey get their "just desserts" one by one, particularly the irritating Mike Teavee.

One of the reasons why I loved the film is how they developed each of the five children, including Charlie. Violet is a little firecracker who claims that she never eats chocolate, but since she heard about this competition, she thought, "Why not?" All she does is do karate and chew gum. Veruca is spoiled English brat. When she gets what is coming to her you will have a smile on your face, smirking at her fate. It's pretty funny how the bulbous Augustus is introduced. He is the first golden ticket winner and one of Charlie's grandfathers says to him, "I bet the first one is going to be fat." and low and behold, there is Augustus. Then you get Mike Teavee who breaks the code to Wonka's whole plan of spreading out the tickets around the world. I loved how each of the kids get 'taken away' in the film, each scenario involving one of their character attributes. Example, Violet is taken away after she eats a piece of chewing gum that still in development.

 

Final

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a new and different film from its original. It has different dialogue, plot twists, and scenarios. All of which seem to work out very well. With many excellent actors, it doesn't feel smashed together. Like the original I see Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to become a children's classic as time goes by. It is one of those films that is enjoyable for both children and adults.