Oompa Limp-a-long (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (Deluxe Edition, 2 DVDs))

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (Deluxe Edition, 2 DVDs)
Date:	13/11/06 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautifully done, marvelous effects, great performances

Disadvantages: Strange interpretation, direction and adaptation

This is the story of what happens when the mysterious and amazing Willy Wonka lets five lucky children get an exclusive tour of his world-famous chocolate (and candy) factory. Oh, dear - I've given this only three stars. That must mean that I'm going to trash this movie. Well, actually I'm not going to totally trash it, but I do have my problems with this movie, and this is what I think.

First of all, having read the book several times, I was a bit disappointed that this movie adds so much that's not in the book and also incorporates bits from the sequel book, Charlie & the Great Glass Elevator. Of course, often this is the case when making a movie out of a beloved book - we are disappointed in the adaptation since we want the movie to be true to our first love. However, I'm afraid that even those of you who haven't read the book might be a bit disappointed with the story line here. This is supposed to be a film for kids, and the addition of the dark, psychological, disturbing side of Willy makes this movie far less kid-friendly than it could be. This isn't to say that kids can't take a bit of gloom in their movies, it's just that I wonder if they'll get the point. You see, we get to 'understand' some of Willy's strange behaviour by getting to view a bit of his childhood traumas with his father. This can be a good lesson for kids to learn that parents discipline their children not because they are mean, but because they love them. I'm just not sure that this is the proper venue for this lesson.

Another problem I have with this film is why director Tim Burton had Johnny Depp portray Willy as such a darkly strange character, who can even be mean at times. Again, referring to the book, we find Willy to be whimsical and sarcastic, but not really nasty. When unfortunate events befall the less than nice children in the book, we get the feeling that he's trying to show them the errors of their ways. In this movie we feel he doesn't really care - he's not pleased or upset at all. Yes, it's a matter of interpretation, but one I wasn't too thrilled with. Furthermore, there are those who have noted that the physical attributes that Burton gave Depp are borderline "Michael Jackson". I didn't see that, but again, I also wasn't sure that this was as faithful to Dahl's idea of the character as it could be. In this case, I found that the Gene Wilder's portrayal of Wonka in the movie musical version of this book was far more accurate - both physically and how he reacted to and interacted with the children.

And speaking of the children, we should remember that this book (and movie) is called "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory". That means that Roald Dahl meant to put the emphasis on Charlie Bucket and his adventure at the Chocolate Factory and not on the amazing Willy Wonka. While the character development of Charlie in this movie isn't too bad, we do get the feeling that Charlie is partially pushed aside by Depp's Wonka. With that, the other lucky kids who have found the golden tickets are even more nominal in this movie. We don't get to dislike them quite enough so when they meet with their mishaps we feel a touch too sorry for them - and Dahl wrote them to make us feel no remorse for their punishments at all. Moreover, I really feel that I should have been moved to tears (or at least get slightly choked up) when things go well for Charlie, and I didn't. Sure, I smiled, but despite all of Burton's efforts to show us how deserving Charlie and his family were for some good luck due to their dire circumstances, we just weren't able to embrace this quirky, but loveable family. In this, perhaps they should have used the Gene Wilder title "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" since Burton truly focuses more on Willy than Charlie in this movie.

This doesn't mean that I thought the acting was inferior. Quite the opposite, in fact. Depp showed a completely new side of his abilities and even Freddie Highmore (from "Finding Neverland") gave us something special here. In general, I think that most, if not all the actors did a fine job with what they were given, and I'm sure they had a great deal of fun making this movie - as it certainly looked like a well-coordinated team effort. No, my problem was with Tim Burton's interpretation of the material, or how the characters were scripted. This fell far short of my expectations and I believe the film suffers from this, overall.

This isn't to say that this film doesn't have some redeeming qualities. Certainly one can't talk about this film without mentioning the amazing CGI and visuals that are included here. The sets are totally stunning with a fantastic contrast between the Bucket's poverty, the opulence of the inside of the factory and the stark and cold outside world that is this film's background in reality. The designers really had a field day with this one, and it truly shows. Each of the rooms that the tour visits has a special feel to it and is perfectly coordinated from the walls to the furniture to uniforms that the Oompa-Loompas wear. I especially liked the feeling of endless space and corridors that they were able to achieve, making us feel like the factory was far more vast than it looked from the surface - which was in perfect harmony with the book, by the way.

Of course, I could have done without all the excessive "Elizabeth I" pancake white face makeup on Depp, and I'm not sure why Helena Bonham-Carter (Charlie's mother) ended up with such big teeth, but other than this the makeup was nicely done. There were also some nice costumes here and there but nothing to write home about. And just a word about the music here, which (and we should remember this isn't a musical version like the Gene Wilder one was) drew somewhat on the previous version but had a cleaner, sharper, less soppy feel to it and worked well for the most part.
But mostly, I found a slew of impressive special effects including such things as the Oompa-Loompas being one person who was computer-cloned to perform the whole slew of Oompa-Loompas. While some people balked at that bit, I didn't find it to be a problem at all. Its not like Oompa-Loompas are a real people, so having them all look alike wasn't a problem for me, and Deep Roy was a perfect choice to play them all. Some of the other effects such as how Violet turns into a swollen blueberry was very effective to begin with and then seemed peter out at the end.

And yet, in general this movie was truly luscious to look at, even when you weren't being enticed by some sort of chocolate or candy. One of the best special effects was one that had nothing to do with the book this was based upon, and that was the glass elevator. This was a particularly spectacular bit with some pretty fancy looking jet-like folding arms on the top were shown as its propulsion engines - which I found both creative and clever. Of course, the scenery through the elevator was just as nicely done and they were very careful to make this bit look seamless. And finally, my personal favourite special effect was the squirrels and how they acted and moved and looked throughout their scene - this was probably one of the very best parts of this movie.

So what's my conclusion about this film and why did I give it only three stars? Well, it's a very pretty movie to watch, with some lovely CGI and effects that bring it to almost breathtakingly gorgeous heights. I'm not terribly happy with how Tim Burton interpreted the book or how the script almost abused such a lovely story. I don't think that this is Burton's best work, nor is it Johnny Depp's most shining hour. But it is fun in many places, it will make you smile (even if it doesn't make you cry when I think it should). So, I can only give it three stars and can only recommend you watch this either by taking it out of the DVD library or when it comes on TV, since I don't think its worth putting out more pocket change than that. I mean, its not like you'll find a golden ticket inside of that purchase, now will you?

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © November 2006

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Technical Stuff:

The official web page for this movie can be found at http://chocolatefactorymovie.warnerbros.com/
or http://www.chocolatefactorymovie.co.uk/

The IMDb page for this movie can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/

The DVD (2 disk edition) of this can be purchased via Amazon for £6.97, or through the marketplace from £2.93.

By the way, you might want to look at the Roald Dahl page as well which you'll find at http://www.roalddahl.com/
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Summary: In Depp-th Willy Wonka film.