Film Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Last night I went to the Arts Picturehouse Cinema with some friends to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I’ve heard some reviews that make some complaints about it, and I can understand them, but I enjoyed the movie a great deal and consider it money well spent. I would encourage anyone who enjoys quirky movies to give it a shot.
The story is pretty well-known by now, I would think. It is based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name. Additionally, there was a 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The basic premise is that our protagonist, Charlie Bucket, is a good but poor kid who wins a tour of Willy Wonka’s factory and faces off in tests of good-kid-ness against four other children who represent various “vices”: greed, pride and ambition, gluttony, and video-game playing. The last one is a little weird and represents the persisting idea that videogames are not a valid form of entertainment (as we all sit in a movie theater, no less). At least the kid is outright obnoxious and a know-it-all, so we’ll chalk it up to that. Since it’s based on a children’s book, you can suppose that everything turns out just fine for Charlie.
The visuals are fantastic. Some have said that Tim Burton has lost his touch and is sort of making the same movie over and over again. Certainly, there are similarities across his films, but I see them having more to do with the kind of stories he enjoys telling (stories about strange people, you know?). I didn’t think in any way that the scenery, cgi and otherwise, was “cookie cutter Tim Burton” – whatever that means. I thought it was well done and made the factory as fantastical as it should be. I absolutely loved the machines in the beginning. In particular, the little arms wrapping the chocolate bars were awesome.
The Oompaloompas just steal the show, by the way. They sing and dance, parodying several genres along the way, and make a variety of pop cultural references. In case you hadn’t heard, they’re all played by the same actor, which was a brilliant decision by Burton. Also, I thought it was neat the way the movie included a backstory for the Oompaloompas. I don’t remember whether that is in the book or not.
One thing I’ve heard people say negatively about the movie is, “Oh man, Willy Wonka is so Michael Jackson,” but I don’t think that’s a really valid criticism. If anything, it is just bad luck on the coincidence of the release and Jackson’s trial. The literary idea of a man-child did not originate with Jackson, certainly. Also, the Willy Wonka character shows plain disdain for the children for almost the entire movie. This is clearly not a valid parallel with a man who prefers to surround himself with children and sleep in their beds, etc.
In any case, it’s worth seeing. While I don’t typically consider myself a Tim Burton fan, I do think that Johnny Depp is one of the best actors of our era, particularly at these eccentric sort of characters. By the way, keep an eye out for the reference to one of Burton and Depp’s previous collaborations, Edward Scissorhands. (Hint: It’s at the flashback to the opening of the new factory.)