Psychedelic Candy
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

RATING: B

Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore.  Music by Danny Elfman, Production Designer Gabriella Pescucci, Edited by Chris Lebenzon, Production Designed by Alex McDowell, Director of Photography Philippe Rousselot, Executive Producers Patrick McCormack, Felicity Dahl, Michael Siegel, Graham Burke and Bruce Berman, Based on the book by Roald Dahl, Screenplay by John August, Produced by Brad Grey, Richard D. Zanuck, Directed by Tim Burton.

Rated PG,  Running Time 115 mins., 1.85 to 1 Academy Standard Aspect Ratio.

Tim Burton's imaginative adaptation of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is like a large piece of candy, maybe the largest you'll ever eat. At times it can be a bit much, becoming slightly sour like when one over indulges their sweet tooth. And at times it can be just right, providing that chemical reaction, stimulating the endorphins and leaving you with a warm and excited feeling. I can't think of any other filmmaker who is not only the perfect talent for the job, but seems to understand the material and on some level has lived it. Burton's mad genius, angst and childhood experience have spilled into all his work creating, fantastic worlds that rival those from the mind of Dahl himself. He is one of the few living directors whose films are so personal and are a clear reflection of his psyche. He's taken on Dahl's work before, producing Henry Selick's stop motion classic "James and the Giant Peach". But are die-hard fans of Mel Stuart's "Willy Wonka..." from 1971 ready for another version?  As much of a cult film that the Gene Wilder version became, it was never faithful to the original material.  Dahl never liked the film at all and was upset his original screenplay was altered. Although Burton has taken a bit of artistic license and put his personal spin on the visuals, the film is faithful enough to have earned the blessing of Dahl's wife Liccy. The assignment of the role of Willy Wonka has been awarded to none other than Burton's "Bobby DeNiro", Johnny Depp.

Recruited from "Finding Neverland" by Depp himself, Freddie Highmore is the young, innocent Charlie Buckett, the poorest boy in London who doesn't yet realize he's the luckiest.  Charlie and his family are so poor that both sets of grandparents sleep in the same bed and his father's (Noah Taylor) glum job at a toothpaste factory barely pays for the cabbage soup dinner they eat nightly.  But Charlie wouldn't trade his life or his family for the world and although they live in the most broken down shack you've ever seen, they are the happiest people in London.  Charlie's luck begins to change when he discovers one of five golden tickets hidden in candy bars by the eccentric billionaire Willy Wonka, winning himself a tour of the mysterious chocolate factory.  Wonka closed his factory and fired all of his employees, including Charlie's Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), due to industrial espionage by competitors who wanted the secrets of his wondrous confections.

Charlie and his grandpa find themselves amongst four other winners who have their own set of designs on getting the mysterious grand prize: overachieving gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb), spoiled rich daddy's girl Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), the technology obsessed but unimaginative Mike Teevea (Jordan Fry), and large gluttonous Austrian boy Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz) who resembles a young, but pudgy Arnold Schwarzenegger. Leading them on their tour is none other than the mysterious Wonka himself who can barely contain his own glee at the fantastic world that lies within.  And what a fantastic world it is due in part to Dahl's imagination, Burton's creative genius and his re-teaming with cinematographer Philippe Rousselot.  Production designer Alex McDowell has taken the German-Expressionist spaces that Burton's known for and twisted them more to Dahl's sensibility, with a touch of the psychedelic.  From the edible gardens and waterfalls of chocolate, to the 60's sci-fi factory rooms and the iconic great glass elevator, much of what has been vividly described in Dahl's novel is lovingly recreated here.

Burton has also re-teamed with his career long partner, musical composer Danny Elfman, who goes above and beyond and seems to have indulged himself to the extreme.  He's written a beautiful score that not only showcases his Bernard Herrmann influences, but his own trippy sensibility.  Just as he did for Henry Selick's and Burton's collaboration "The Nightmare Before Christmas", Elfman composes and even performs fabulous musical numbers for the Oompa Loompas, those iconic little people who serve as Wonka's factory workers.  They are all magnificently played by Kenyan actor Deep Roy who has been digitally cloned more times than "The Matrix's" Agent Smith.  Roy who has played everything from adolescent aliens to Droopy McCool, a band player in Jabba the Hutt's palace from "Return of the Jedi", injects personality into the individual characters and lip-syncs Elfman's voice perfectly.  Just like the original film, the songs usually involve the fate of each of the children, but Elfman has incorporated verses from Dahl's novel and fashioned musical numbers that include, Bollywood, 60's flower power, disco and even an old Esther Williams-like water ballet.  Fans from Elfman's "Oingo Boingo" days may find his style here very familiar.

Just like the previous film, many of the bratty and spoiled children that accompany Charlie and Wonka are over the top in their performances, but in today's day and age it seems more appropriate than it did in 1971.  They exist to demonstrate that the over indulgence and greed  that lies in consumerism today will lead to one's downfall as one by one they each receive their comeuppance.  If you were ever frightened by the grim fates that these characters met in the original film and are concerned that young children will be affected the same way, do not worry.  Although the just deserts they receive are fairly elaborate and imaginative, they are merely humiliated and just like the novel, no death is involved.  Whether it be swelling up like a giant blueberry or getting attacked by squirrels, their humiliation demonstrates that no matter how much they want, they could never be as happy as someone like Charlie, who has nothing but the love of his family.

Freddie Highmore is a talented young actor who carries the weight of the story's morals.  His optimistic attitude and toothy grin are appealing as well as his relationship with Kelly's Grandpa Joe.   Although the title of this film is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and he is the central character, the film is clearly being marketed as a vehicle for Johnny Depp, who surprisingly isn't as engaging as Charlie and his family.  Depp is clearly attempting to approach the role from the left, trying not to copy Gene Wilder's popular take, but develop his own interpretation.  Depp seeks to emulate those eccentric hosts of children's TV shows from the 60's and 70's, where you always found them weird and entertaining but could never put your finger on why they acted the strange way they did.  Depp's Wonka doesn't care much for children, doesn't like adults and has great difficulty saying the word "parents."  There is an attempt at an explanation of his behavior involving a flashback sequence in which his father "the world's richest dentist" (played magnificently by the great Christopher Lee) ruins his Halloween by destroying all of the candy he has collected.  With the intimidating Chris Lee as a dad I guess I'd end up as a high pitched voice, closeted eccentric too.

Depp's performance may not appeal to those that fondly remember Wilder, who projected a kind and warm sensibility.  He is sadly the film's weakest link because he fails to establish a connection with the audience and even Charlie (at least until the film's final scenes).  Nevertheless, he should be commended because he never comes across as putting on a performance and never breaks character.  That's something Jim Carrey would do, as a wink, wink to the audience that he's only pretending.  Watching Depp, you forget about Captain Jack Sparrow or his "21 Jump Street" days and only see this clearly defined mysteriously weird character.  I'd much rather see Depp create a character like this than watch Carrey or even the suggested Christopher Walken play up to the audience.

Though Depp is billed as the lead, Tim Burton is more the star of this film than anyone.  His personality permeates through the material and this film could be his most personal since he and Depp teamed on "Ed Wood".  The film fails to emotionally connect to the viewer as well as the two Eds (Scissorhands and Wood), but I find this picture to have more in common with Burton's first film, the stop motion short "Vincent" narrated by Vincent Price.  If he were alive, it would have been beautiful to have Price narrate instead of bass Geoffrey Holder, because he would have been able to better convey that outsider theme that both films share.  But it's refreshing that in an age of summer popcorn films Depp and Burton are trying to pull off something different and take a familiar story and make it fresh and unique.  Burton has become more commercialized with age, but his manic depressive, and impulsive tendencies still tend to coarse through his work.  It's just that fatherhood has made him more mature.  Although I felt no connection to Depp's Wonka I still wouldn't find visiting these characters again in the future.  Though I'm not sure Depp would be willing to fly into space with Highmore in Dahl's sequel "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator".