Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Author Roald Dahl did not like the original 1971 film because it deviated too much from his story. Director Tim Burton does not consider his movie to be a remake of that movie but instead a new adaptation. I remember how surprised I was after seeing "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" that it was genuinely funny. It still is to some extent. In terms of the overall experience, I didn't expect anything less from Tim Burton. At this point in his career, he began to adapt famous literature that seemed right up his alley starting with "Sleepy Hollow" and continuing with "Planet of the Apes". When I heard about this movie, I felt it was a perfect project for Burton. As mentioned, I was not disappointed with the finished film but I wasn't expecting it to be amazing either.

Even before Willy Wonka appears on screen, the film has some funny moments. I love for example the spy handing over the candy secrets. The scene plays upon the silliness a spy in a candy factory really well. Another great gag is the Morocco market and I enjoy the establishing shot outside the Teavee house. Grandpa George comes across much like Grumpy the dwarf. He may be rough but even in his first scenes, you can tell he is not heartless. I love when he talks Charlie into accepting the golden ticket. The opening puppet show is an obvious spoof of "It's a Small World (After All)" and that provides some great humor. A lot of the humor in the film stems from Willy Wonka as I alluded to. It seems pretty unbelievable that Mike deduced where to buy his golden ticket but then Wonka acknowledges that there was indeed a system that Mike cracked. That was pretty funny for me. I also laugh when Wonka throws away the business card from Salt and how Wonka doesn't want to talk about the cotton candy sheep. In the 1971 film, the songs for each of the children were basically the same tune. What I love about the songs in the Burton version is that each one is unique and that the lyrics are from the original book. For instance, there is a Bollywood feel for "Augustus Gloop" and Deep Roy, who plays the Oompa-Loompas, suggested this. My favorite song is "Mike Teavee" with its various references. I wonder if actual footage from "2001: A Space Odyssey" was used and it appears so. I am glad we get some resolution with the other children as they leave the factory. That was missing from the former film. Tim Burton seems to have stayed as true to the book as possible where as the studio wanted to make many changes. In a few instances, those working on this film that had not seen the original movie kept it that way until production was complete on the new version. With today's technology, the squirrels were achievable in this film. I thought that the squirrels were completely CGI but there are some animatronic and real animals involved in that scene. The real squirrels used in the scene were trained from birth. This remake however must include some differences between its source material and its cinematic predecessor in order to entertain everyone. Other film adaptations of various children’s' books have expanded their stories to allow for feature length such as "The Grinch" and "The Lorax" but those films for example in my opinion were not perfect in complimenting the original narrative. The new parts of the stories did not fit. With "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" however, the back-story of Willy and his father works well enough. Burton and screenwriter John August had experience with this kind of plot from working together on "Big Fish" so that must have helped. I also credit Johnny Depp and Christopher Lee is helping us to accept this back-story. The various flashbacks set up the plot point that Charlie will have to leave his family if he wants to inherit the chocolate factory. It still comes as a surprise to us the audience because we were expecting the happy ending that we saw and read decades earlier. Charlie heroically makes the decision that we all would have made if we were in his shoes. He stays with his family but instead of remaining poor, they begin to be blessed without the help of Wonka. Despite this resolution to the Buckets' financial situation, the resolution of the film story is not yet complete. The irony of Wonka's plan is that he was effectively able to weed out which child should be his worthy successor but then Wonka discovers that he was not worthy of Charlie. Willy therefore seeks out Charlie's help because he can't understand how Charlie has more happiness with his simple family than as his inheritor and this leads to reconciliation between father and son. Dr. Wonka may have had trouble letting his son choose his own path in life but Charlie helps Willy and us realize that his father was just being protective. For example, Dr. Wonka may have thrown out the candy earlier in the movie but he still let Willy go trick-or-treating in the first place.

Before choosing Tim Burton, Warner Brothers approached other noteworthy directors to make this movie such as Rob Minkoff ("The Lion King"), Martin Scorsese and Tom Shadyac ("Ace Ventura"). After "Hugo", I personally am very curious as to what the Scorsese version would have looked like. The Dahl family was opposed to Shadyac by they way. He was planning to cast Jim Carrey as Willy Wonka, which also arouses my curiosity as to what might have been. I also wish I could see Adam Sandler and Michael Keaton as the character because they were also approached. Other actors considered for the role include Nicolas Cage, Brad Pitt and even Will Smith. Tim Burton had produced another Dahl adaptation, "James and the Giant Peach", previous to this and the Dahl estate was pleased that he would helm this film. This was the fourth collaboration between Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp. After marrying Burton in 2001, actress Helena Bonham Carter starred in his next seven films. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was #3 in that list. Another interesting statistic is that Tim Burton's next four films after "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" not only had Carter in them but also Depp. I am sure the collaborations will continue. Depp and Burton envisioned Willy among other things as a children's TV show host but even weirder. When casting the role of Charlie proved a little difficult, Depp suggested Freddie Highmore, having worked with Highmore on "Finding Neverland". The most perfect casting decision for me was for the role of Grandpa Joe. David Kelly visually fit the part more so than Jack Albertson. Deep Roy had worked with Burton before on two previous occasions and I consider Roy to be the hardest working actor on this film as the Oompa-Loompas. When you consider how many times he had to appear in just one shot, you will most likely agree with me. In the last century in the history of filmmaking when an actor is replicated multiple times in one shot, the camera is stationary. There are a lot of moving camera shots however in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" that feature Oompa-Loompas. The special effects are pretty notewothy as a result. However, much of the movie was made practically and I like that. This movie has a look that is typical of Tim Burton. There are bright colors but a sense of grey everywhere. Even the hue of the color of chocolate in this show fits perfect with Burton's characteristic color scheme. Danny Elfman also delivers a score that is quite reminiscent of his past scores for this director. Burton and Elfman by they way were working on "Corpse Bride" at the same time and this wasn't easy (Depp and Carter had completed the voice work on that movie by then).

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" rightfully received an Oscar nomination for Costume Design. I do like to see this film every once in a while but the reason why I did not give it a higher rating is because the focus of the show was on the visuals and the absurd possibilities of the story, not on the story itself.

3.5 Stars