Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)

Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Deep Roy, David Kelly, Noah Taylor, Missi Pyle, James Fox

Based on the novel by Roald Dahl

SYNOPSIS

Charlie is a young boy living in poverty with his parents and grandparents. Every birthday, he gets the same present - a chocolate bar from the Wonka factory, which is located near by. Nobody has seen Wonka for years, he lives apparently alone as a recluse, yet his factory keeps operating with nobody entering or leaving the building.

One day, Wonka announces that there are 5 golden tickets randomly included in his bars and the children who receive them will be taken on special tour of his factory, which is a very unusual and magical place indeed...

REVIEW

Despite being a much-loved children's classic and a favourite of many children, Roald Dahl reportedly hated the original adaptation of his classic novel, retitled Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. I can certainly see where he's coming from at point, though it's probably the best version of his story that could have been filmed at the time. There's something extremely strange and disturbing about Gene Wilder's portrayal of Wonka, and the music, and it has both a slightly cheesy and creepy aesthetic.

As the title suggests, this is a more faithful adaptation of the novel, though it falls somewhat short due to familiarity with both the source and Burton's work, while Depp's Wonka is no match for Wilder. Depp has clearly based his performance on Michael Jackson which, while creepy in a more overt way, doesn't really match Wilder's unnerving yet hypnotic performance as the eccentric Wonka.

That having been said, the movie does seem to stick to its aim of being as close to the book as possible and does a great job of it (at least, from what I can remember from reading it many years ago). From here, I suppose how you take the movie depends on your familiarity with not only the book, but also the previous movie and Burton's overall body of work.

For those familiar with both the book and Burton's other fantasies (as I am), it's a little disappointing as in there are few surprises. I know that I'm a long way from being the target audience, but I found the movie both visually impressive and rather predictable. The other thing worth noting is the Oompa-Loompahs, which are all here played extremely well by one actor, Deep Roy. It's quite impressive, though fans of the original don't seem to like the non-orange-faced look.

Overall, an enjoyable movie though younger kids will probably enjoy it much more than I did.

7 / 10