wild violet | mythic mist - charlie and the chocolate factory review by kathryn atwood

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a gloriously delicious film that satisfies deeply on many levels. Any comparison between this film and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is like comparing Nestles' Quick to Godiva chocolates: both are tasty in their own way, but there's really no comparison.

Director Tim Burton has received repeated criticism for supposedly "re-making" the 1971 film, which opened to dismal box office receipts and reviews but has gained a large following, thanks to television and video sales. Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is no remake; it's an attempt to go back to Roald Dahl's book and get it right.

Dahl was the credited screenwriter for Willy Wonka, but he was forced to stand by lamely while the film's production team transformed his masterpiece into a musical almost devoid of the book's original purpose. Dahl was so disappointed with the film that he refused to grant the Willy Wonka team the rights to his sequel, Charlie and the Glass Elevator. His widow, Liccy Dahl, has exercised tight control over Dahl's works but was so evidently pleased with John August's screenplay that she gave Burton the green light on this project.

This Charlie, while it remains very faithful to Dahl's book, has Burton's weirdly dark, funny stamp all over it. It also takes a few Liccy Dahl-approved liberties with the story that don't detract from its meaning, but delves deeper into it to bring out something that may have been lurking just below the surface.

At the center of the story is young Charlie Bucket (Freddy Highmore), a poor boy who is rich in the love of his family. When news spreads that the mysterious Willy Wonka is suddenly going to re-open his famous candy factory for five lucky golden ticket holders (one of whom will receive a special prize), Charlie doesn't have much hope: he receives only one Wonka bar per year on his birthday. But this being a children's story, his birthday is only one week away and he overcomes impossible odds to win a trip to the famous factory.

It is there that the fun-as-morality-play begins. There are four other children, besides Charlie, taking the tour: chubby Augustus Gloop, bratty Veruca Salt, competitive gum chewer Violet Beauregarde, and television addict Mike TeaVee. As they tour the Wonka factory (made from beautiful and painstakingly built sets), one by one, the children fall prey to their own character defects and are circumstantially punished. As each child falls, the Oompa-Loompas (Wonka's midget workers played miraculously by a single actor) put on incredibly staged musical numbers — each flawed child gets his own moral-of-the-story song, MTV video and Bugsby Berkley musical all rolled into one. Only Tim Burton could make this work, and it works splendidly.

Liccy Dahl has said that her husband would have loved Depp's Wonka. Depp is certainly akin to Dahl's Wonka in that he appears to be a man-child who hasn't fully embraced adulthood and is apparently lacking in some basic human empathy, but Depp takes Wonka's antisocial behavior to deeper, almost pathological levels. Perhaps that's because Burton and August have invented a very plausible back story for Wonka involving a meanspirited dentist father (Christopher Lee) and a hideous orthodontic brace.

Although the script turns Depp, at times, into an somewhat effeminate juvenile who is almost as self-centered as some of his guests, his portrayal is not that far from Dahl's Wonka; the back story only adds a rich, satisfying psychological depth to the story and makes Wonka's ultimate redemption fully satisfying.

The character at the heart of the fim and the one who finally helps Wonka fully embrace his humanity is Freddy Highmore's Charlie. Kate Winslett, Depp's co-star in Finding Neverland, apparently suggested Highmore for the role; watching his acting gave her the chills. Highmore is an incredibly gifted young actor, and his performance here is absolutely breathtaking. His Charlie is good without being saccharine, morally strong without being insufferable, and believable while remaining childlike. His down-to-earth Charlie perfectly balances Depp's eccentric Wonka.

Nestles' Quick and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory are fine when there's nothing else. But for a special treat, watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And don't forget the Godivas.

A Huge Delicious Treat, or Godiva Chocolates