Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) [2005]

Filling the coat of Willy Wonka is frequent Burton collaborator Johnny Depp--the pair have previously worked together on the likes of Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow--and what fun he clearly had. His Wonka is a kooky, isolated figure, extremely distrusting and clearly uncomfortable around the children who win a golden ticket to look round his factory. Burton invests time in his main character, giving him a rounded back story that pays dividends, and while some will inevitably prefer Gene Wilder's edgier take on the same role all those years ago, Depp nonetheless is on strong form. The cast around him also perform well, particularly Freddie Highmore in the title role.

The story is as you'll likely remember it, with five children given the chance to visit Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. And what a visual treat that factory is, bursting with colour and vibrancy. Along the way, they encounter chocolate lakes, industrious squirrels and the infamous oompa loompas, and truthfully, it's fun to be along for the ride.

Is it better than that aforementioned 1975 version? Actually, it's just different. Each film will no doubt have its legion of fans, but the bottom line here is that Roald Dahl's classic has provided the source for an enjoyable, well pitched movie with plenty of rewatch value. Now if only they'd go and film Charlie & The Great Glass Elevator…--Simon Brew

I highly recommend this film to anyone with a twisted mind or a flowing imagination. Very enjoyable (I went to see it 7 times!), I can't wait until the DVD is released!


The best film i've seen in a while   September 17, 2005
32 out of 42 found this review helpful

Having sat in the cinema hours on end this year to try to release the smallest of chuckles, I was delighted when the new charlie and the chocolate factory was released, a film i'd been anticipating for a long time.
The songs aren't the same but they are incredibly funny, i was happily surprised.In fact I watched it twice.
The new format of the film is hilarious and Johnny Depp was exactly what it needed to re-release this old time classic.
My favourite character is the oompah loompa, played this time by one man, although it seems like many. His dancing is fantastic.
I definately recomend this film for anyone of any age!Its worth its price, a film you can watch again and again and still find amusing. fantastic.


Sugar rush   September 13, 2005
Adam Brooks
25 out of 39 found this review helpful

Tim Burton and Roald Dahl seem made for each other. The work of both is inhabited by alienated, childlike figures struggling to make sense of the adult world, a magical, hyper-real world at that (Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" could well have been Dahl Novels).

And so in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" we have the young (the boy hero Charlie Bucket) and the young at heart (Willy Wonka, reclusive "Choclateer" and owner of the wonderland "Chocolate Factory."). Wonka (Johnny Depp) remains perpetually childlike, and the adult world he hides from has not distinguished itself in his eyes through a dictatorial then absent dentist father (Christopher Lee) and a cynical workforce out to steal his recipes. He even surrounds himself with childlike companions, the diminutive Oompa-Loompas.
Charlie (Freddie Highmore) is here a good realisation of the boy hero stock character from Dahl's novels. Surrounded by idealised family loyalty in a knowingly cartoon representation of poverty (the Bucket family live in a leaning shack, the elderly relatives all sharing the same bed, the family repeatedly dining (gratefully) off cabbage soup) he longs to meet Wonka and explore the factory. He gets his chance when Wonka hides 5 gold tickets inside the billions of candy bars distributed worldwide as invitations to explore his factory and win a special ultimate prize.
The 4 other children who win the tickets, and the parent who accompany them to the factory are other Burton/Dahl examples of the cynical, corrupted adult world at play. All these other children are disfigured in various ways, emotionally, physically and spiritually, by being spoilt, in love with possessions, competition or themselves.
Charlie is accompanied to the factory by his Grandfather (David Kelly), a faithful portrayal of the 'young older person' of the book.
And so the party set out to explore the factory. Along the way, the children start to be undone and picked off in imaginative ways by their own actions, motivated by their own particular vices. Overweight Augustus Gloop fall into a Chocolate river he's been gorging himself on, Mike TV is miniaturised by crashing an experiment in his hunger to get on TV, and so on. Each time one of these characters comes to such a fate, the Oompa Loompas break into a song, underlining the moral of the child's tale.
If you're not familiar with the book or the previous film version, I won't reveal Charlie's end to his journey. Suffice to say it's a fitting end to the hero's quest.
The screenplay works well for the most part, following the original story closely. What is less satisfactory is a narrative addition for the film, fleshing out Wonka's own parenting. Wonka is unable to say the word parenting, so hideous, we surmise, must be the experiences of his boyhood. What are these? Well, his dentist Dad puts him in dental braces and won't let him eat chocolate. When the young Wonka, tasting Chocolate, falls in love with the substance and vows to become a 'Choclateer', the Dad says he won't be here when he gets back, and true enough, with a visual flourish Dahl himself may have approved of, when Wonka returns the entire house is missing from its terrace. That this doesn't work well is due to the fact that it seems very slight. It may all be a metaphor for parental abandonment, but dramatically it doesn't have much clout. Led by Charlie at the films end, Wonka seeks out his Father, and the result again is unsatisfying and forced, and worse, punctures the mystique of the Wonka character. The character of the book, and to some extent the 70's Gene Wilder film, is fascinating because we don't where he comes from. There's almost an element of the supernatural Wizard about him. This film puts him too much in the league of a Freudian accident.
Johnny Depp's playing of Wonka is interesting, and works, just about. With his tall, lean frame, pasty skin, and thin, fluting voice and fey manner he is both childlike and otherworldly. That he also invites children to his Wonderland factory, and surrounds himself with the childlike, makes comparisons with a certain Moonwalking celebrity inevitable. Depp and Burton have denied any intended link, but Depp's playing of the character seems to make it.
Freddy Highmore as Charlie, pretty much how I imagined him from the novel, is good casting and a sound performance. The 'horrible' children and their parents are also amusingly played, especially the hyper-competitive Violet and her Mom ("Eye on the prize, Violet, eye on the Prize").
The Oompa Loompas are great fun, and their singing and dancing antics well choreographed and tremendously entertaining.
The sets and effects including the factory are a riot of colour and cartoon shapes. The interior of the factory is quite similar to the Wilder film, both using primary course to convey excess of sugar and energy.
Danny Elfman's score is, as usual, in your face and zany, with sly and sinister undertones, quickly establishing the mood of the film.
The film is light, bright, energetic and fun. You'll either enjoy the ride, or leave with kind of migraine you get from eating too much chocolate.


Better Then the Original, But Still Not the Definitive Take   November 11, 2005
Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States)
25 out of 46 found this review helpful

I'm not normally a Tim Burton fan. Just the previews of his movies usually look weird enough to me that I pass right on by. But, since this was a new version of one of my favorite books from childhood, I had to give it a chance.

To be honest, I've never been a fan of the original movie version, either. It took too many liberties with the story, changing the entire makeup of Charlie in the process and missing the point of the story. But that's a rant for a different review. The reason I bring it up here is because I went into this one hoping to love it and without the baggage of liking the previous one.

The story is rather straightforward. Charlie Bucket comes from a poor family that is barely making ends meet. It gets even worse after his father looses his job.

Charlie loves chocolate, which he gets one day a year - his birthday. To make matters worse, he lives in the same town as the mysterious Wonka Chocolate Factory, the best candy factory in the world.

One day, Willy Wonka announces that he will open his factory to five lucky kids who find the golden tickets in his candy bars. As the winners come in, they are all selfish, obnoxious children. Charlie doesn't have a chance of getting to go. Or does he? And what wonders await the winners in the factory?

The movie is visually stunning. This is a playground I would love to visit in person. The colors are vibrant and everything is interesting. Tim Burton obviously had a wonderful time creating the visuals to match the book. In addition, much of the humor remains, including great puns and the wonderful scene with the chocolate mansion.

Speaking of the book, this movie does a better job of sticking to the story in most areas, but especially in one key area, Charlie. While he can come across as a goody-two-shoes at times (a problem with the book as well), just about anyone would with the obnoxious brats for comparison. The original movie tried to fix that problem, but I much prefer him this way.

The movie gets so much of the basic plot right, any fan of the book will love it. With the advance of special effects, the story is brought to visual life in ways that weren't possible 30 years ago when the original came out. While the characters have been modernized a little, it adds to the story rather then detracts from it.

The real problem comes with the added back-story. Willy Wonka now has a past involving a dentist father who hated candy. Frankly, it more detracts then adds to the plot since the point of the movie is the wonders of the factory itself. It also throws in a theme of the importance of family relationships that seems tacked on to the theme we see most of the time about the importance of behavior and manners.

Compounding this is Johnny Depp's weird portrayal of Willy Wonka. I knew from the previews to expect it, but it still was too over the top. I left the theater wondering why he wanted to open up his factory period. Granted, the character is supposed to be a crazy eccentric, but he was never this cold and almost creepy.

This movie does have many things going for it. The visuals, characters, and effects are great. It's less likely to scare kids then the original, too. Tim Burton's desire to add a back-story ultimately backfired, however, leaving the book as the best way to familiarize yourself with this story.


Well, Tim Burton and Roald Dahl! Very clever!!!   September 10, 2005
Max (England, Milton Keynes)
13 out of 28 found this review helpful

I am a humongous fan of the magical Roald Dahl, and I am only 12 years of age! But when I saw at a local cinmea screen I thought it was a very smart mix of Roald Dahl and Tim Burton and Johnny Depp was pure evil! But he did well as Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, and Freddie Highmore was excellent as the lonesome Charlie Bucket, and David Kelly was wonderful as the lively Grandpa Joe!
I didn't like it much when they changed the ending, but it was good they stuck to the soul of Roald Dahl's tale. Well, goodye!