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Boy,
was I ever wrong when I first judged what
little I saw of Johnny Depp's (Pirates
of the Caribbean, Finding Neverland)
portrayal of Willy Wonka in the previews
for this film. Even though it was different
from Gene Wilder's portrayal in the 1971
version (titled Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory), Depp ends up
giving one of the most enjoyable and funny
performances of his career. Because of
director Tim Burton's (Sleepy Hollow,
Big Fish) outstanding reputation
in working with Depp, it allowed for Depp
to be able to deliver a gratifying spin
on Wonka's character that truly captivates
the audience. Add to that the fact that
it stays much closer to the book by Roald
Dahl, and you've got something that will
last forever.
In the film,
Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland)
plays Charlie Bucket, an innocent and
selfless boy who lives in a little old
lopsided house with his parents and grandparents
from both sides of the family. They are
so impoverished that they only have enough
money to buy him one Wonka chocolate bar
once a year for his birthday. So when
Willy Wonka decides to give out five golden
tickets wrapped inside of five Wonka bars
scattered throughout the world for a tour
of his secret chocolate factory, Charlie
looks forward to his next birthday more
than any of the others before it.
After getting
chocolate for his birthday, and Grandpa
Joe (played by David Kelly of Waking
Ned Devine) coughing up dough for
another - Charlie, while grateful for
the chocolate, does not get a golden ticket.
As three times is usually a charm, Charlie
finds a ten dollar bill in the snow and
buys one more chocolate bar and ends up
being the last child in the world to find
a golden ticket. Along with snobby rich
girl Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), German
choc-o-holic Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz),
smart-mouth Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) and
gum-chewing champion Violet Beauregarde
(Annasophia Robb) - Charlie enters the
factory with the four other lucky, but
undeserving winners. Little do they know
what wonders (and dangers) lie ahead -
let alone how fun it is for the audience
to enjoy it all.
While the
visuals in the Gene Wilder version were
great for the time, we are treated to
a much bigger and more epic version of
the factory in this film. Updated with
modern CGI and effects, we’re given
greater visuals of such things as optical
illusions, a flying glass elevator that
can go any direction, vast passageways,
chocolate waterfalls, eatable landscapes,
trained squirrels, and even “Fudge
Mountain” (literally the size of
a real mountain that lies underneath a
real sky contained within the factory
somehow).
This film
shows us that Willy Wonka’s chocolate
factory is not constrained by the various
laws of reality. It is a fantasy world
that is isolated from the outside world
- which is sort of a skewed reality in
and of itself, with such things as Wonka
building a chocolate palace overseas,
or the existence of "Loompa Land"
and its strange little inhabitants. Burton
directs the picture so that we just accept
the reality in which we are given, and
that is what makes this film work.
The Oompa
Loompas, who work for Wonka in exchange
for wages consisting of coca-beans, are
a delight to observe. They are all played
by one man (Deep Roy), an already vertically-challenged
actor who is digitally duplicated and
shrunk to look extra tiny for the film.
The Oompa Loompas treat us to wonderfully
humorous and witty musical numbers that
make us giggle with glee. Who would have
thought that Roy, who played a quiet circus
performer in Big Fish, could
be so funny, imitating various “Esther
Williams” swimming moves, or mimicking
rock bands like The Beatles and
Kiss? This is by far the most
entertaining aspect of the film.
Thanks to
a wonderfully adapted screenplay by John
August (Big Fish), this version
gives us not only an updated look for
the story and funny Oompa Loompas, but
also provides an amusing back story of
Wonka and the factory, and insight as
to why Willy Wonka is sort of
two fries short of a Happy Meal. Willy
Wonka is a seriously disturbed individual
in this film, socially awkward and kind
of rude. But while Gene Wilder simply
was the way he was in the 1971
film without any explanation, this one
actually goes deep into Wonka’s
childhood and his relationship with his
father (played by Christopher Lee of The
Lord of the Rings and Star Wars
series) and gives us an explanation.
This ultimately paves the way for a beautiful
ending in which Wonka actually learns
a valuable lesson from Charlie.
Not much
fault can be found with the film. It may
err a bit in that while titled "Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory," the story
tends to shift focus much more onto Willy
Wonka's character journey than on Charlie's.
While I cannot say if that is closer to
the book, it is such an intriguing journey
that audiences really do not seem to mind.
Johnny Depp is always a pleasure to watch
in any film he is in, so we just have
grown accustomed to him being in the spotlight.
And perhaps Charlie, while still a kid,
has already been on the journey because
of his excursion through poverty and it
is now his turn to help someone else in
need.
Does it
top the original? In many ways, yes it
does. It is much closer to the book according
to Burton, and now we know why Willy Wonka
is so loopy. Johnny Depp delivers one
of the funniest performances of his career,
and just like in Finding Neverland,
he and Freddie Highmore have great chemistry
together on screen. This movie is a treat
for all ages - one that is funny and entertaining
and stands above the original film as
yet another great cinematic achievement
for Tim Burton.
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(out of four)
