Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The last review I posted was for The Bad News Bears, which was a good illustration of how a remake can screw up by trying to be too much like the original. Well, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a good example of how trying to make a completely different movie can make a remake into quite a success.

The original movie is a sort of morality tale. Charlie wins the factory in the end because he passes Wonka’s honesty test. The Burton version ends up being about the importance of family and friendship. So in its message, this film is already setting itself apart from the original.

I don’t think there was anything wrong with the acting in the original film, but the acting in this one, by all the actors but especially Johnny Depp and Freddy Highmore, is outstanding. Johnny Depp’s Wonka is hilarious, creepy, and pitiable all at once. Other reviewers have remarked that it almost seems to be based on Michael Jackson, and while I don’t know that MJ was an influence in Depp’s acting decisions, I do think that both are good examples of what happens to people who don’t have normal, healthy attachments to others. Some of Wonka’s lines are just priceless and great departures from the original. In the original, you have Wonka’s introduction to the chocolate room: “Everything in this room is eatable. Edible. I mean, you can eat almost everything.” Burton’s Wonka: “Everything in this room is eatable. Even me. But that, dear children, is called cannibalism, and is frowned on in most societies.” As for Highmore, this film isn’t as demanding of him as Finding Neverland, and I think he’s pretty much just playing himself, but he’s good anyway. You can’t help but love him to pieces and want the best for him.

I’m not big on musicals, so it was nice that the only songs in this one were the It’s A Small World takeoff “Willy Wonka Here He Is” and the Oompa Loompa songs. They’re kind of annoying, but they’re supposed to be, so it worked for me.

Perhaps most of all, I love the look of this film, as I do all of Burton’s films. Every set is just awesome. My favorites are the chocolate room, a Nightmare Before Christmas version of the original movie’s, and the Buckets’ house, which is just fabulous.

Oh, and my seven year old nephew liked it enough to watch it twice, and he doesn’t do that much.

This is definitely one to watch.