Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Review

by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)
August 5th, 2005
Free "Willy"
by Homer Yen
(c) 2005

When you have the freedom to do whatever you
want, you can come up with some zany ideas. This freedom is what has propelled Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) to superstar status in the confection
world. He'll travel to remote locations to
uncover new flavors. His candy-making process incorporates a chocolate waterfall. Even a
candy transporter isn't out of the question. No doubt, the candy-lovers of the world are a much happier people.

Meanwhile, it's good to see that director Tim
Burton also enjoys this kind of freedom. And
this results in fantastic visuals that are really
a treat to look at. The world is an inspired
cross between a trip to Disney and a Candyland
come to life. One could see this as being the ultimate Epcot showpiece. It's Wonkaland! The Victorian clothes are gloriously colorful. The
Dr. Who feel is quirky yet scintillating. The
Peter Pan/Michael Jackson parallels are creepily off-center. Ah, ain't freedom grand?

Willy Wonka came to the big screen back in 1971.
A rare contest gave five lucky children, who
found golden tickets in their Wonka Bars, a
personally guided tour of the Wonka facilities.
It is a whimsical yet simple tale of a young
boy's fantasy come to life. Of note were the marvelous creations within the mystical chocolate factory, a strange tribe of workers called Oompa Loompas who broke into melodic lessons about
life, and the eccentric caretaker himself, then
played by Gene Wilder.

This updated version simultaneously adds and
detracts from the original. It provides greater insight into some of the characters. We learn
how the Oompa Loompas came to live at Wonka's
fabulous factory. And we learn a bit about
Wonka's childhood and his trauma surrounding
father figures, which causes him to go out on his
own and to follow his dreams of building the
largest chocolate factory in the world. The
factory is more fully realized, thanks to
advances in special effects. And, we see the
fates of all the children who don't complete the
tour, which was something not offered in the
original. I liked the look of the film. You can
tell that an artist truly has a chance to let his imagination run wild. The meadows of confection
and the futuristic elevator of infinite
destinations that whisks through a labyrinthine highway of cables to speedily usher you from one
part of the factory to another are a wonder.
Maybe taking a few too many liberties, it seemed
kind of absurd once we are introduced to oddities
such as the puppet medical burn center.

But it's also a little too creepy and lacks a definitive purpose. The Oompa Loompas, who
appear to be clones, look more menacing than industrious and the lessons they sing are muted
by the techno-synthesized music. Some of the
children meet with alarming fates, which may be a
bit too intense for wee members of the audience.
And Willy himself is an odd fellow. His motives
seem suspect and he appears to have as much depth
as an M&M.

Granted, it is all show and tell to an extreme.
The dog and pony show inspires one of the young
lads to ask, "what's the point of all of this?"
To that, our reserved hero, Charlie (Freddie
Highmore) responds, "there is no point. That's
why it's candy!" That's a sweet retort to help justify this otherwise unevenly flavored film.

Grade: B-

S: 0 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3

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