Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I finally saw Tim Burton's interpretation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" this past weekend. I am one of those people who enjoy the Gene Wilder film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", so I went into this film as open-minded as possible. I enjoyed the silly songs in the previous film and I never found the goofiness of it all to be too much for me to enjoy the film. I had heard and read that this film was darker than the 1971 adaptation, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

I have never read the book that both of these movies are based on, so I cannot speak to how well the storyline of the movies follow that of the book. However, I will say that everyone that I know that has read the book says that Tim Burton's film is very close to the book in the way it flows and the characters that it portrays. All that being said, I found some of the characters to be almost indistinguishable. For instance, with the exception of the scenes of their respective demises, little spoiled brats Violet Beauregarde and Veruca Salt could almost be rolled into one character who adds very little to the storyline of the film. Almost without exception, the parents of these children are basically just background players throughout the movie, adding little dialogue, little character and even less emotion.

There are obvious exceptions to this general character malaise. Johnny Depp adds another feather to his cap of weired, eccentric, odd and basically beloved characters. He has successfully made a career out of playing roles that are both challenging and bizarre and somehow making them adorable. His characterization of Willy Wonka is outlandishly creepy, ghostly pale and self-absorbed while yet unashamedly entertaining, fantastically colorful and driven by the desire for acceptance of others. I'm not sure it is worthy of the honor of winning, but I believe he has successfully made the argument for an Academy Award Nomination. He may not win the Oscar, but he definitely deserves the nod for pulling off a complex caracter that others would have failed at delivering.

The zany antics of the Oompa Loompas throughout the movie were extremely entertaining and witty. Deep Roy can now simply hand a copy of this film to any director in the industry to prove his range, ability and expression capabilities. Truly he has captured every aspect of the Oompa Loompas in his multiple impersonations. I sat there thinking about how many different takes he must have performed in order to create the many musical scenes and was blown away. This man must have been crazy busy throughout the filming of this movie. If nothing else, Deep Roy deserves a lot of credit and respect within the industry.

Overall, I wasn't blown away by this movie, but wasn't bored by it either. I found parts of it rather entertaining and other parts of it seemed bland or contrived. The story moved along well and the dialogue was tolerable. If you loved the Gene Wilder adaptation of the book you might like this film, but only if you are willing to allow this film to be its own creature. It is not a remake, it is its own movie with its own creative direction. If you hated the previous film, you might like this one because it does forge its own direction and forsake some of the aspects of the other film. If you enjoyed the book, I am told that you will thoroughly enjoy this film and that you will appreciate it more than the 1970s film. If you haven't ever read the book or seen the other film, then I think that you will enjoy this film a lot.

Overall, it was a bizarre trip through a technocolor world as interpreted only as Tim Burton could visualize and bring to reality on film. You knew that when he and Johnny Depp signed on to tackle this film that it would definitely be interesting and strange. Neither one has disappointed in their own way and I think that is why people are so willing to accept it and find themselves actually enjoying it.