| CHARLIE
AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
By TODD McCARTHY
Variety,
7/11/05
 The
wondrous surfaces have a weird undercurrent that won't go away in
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Tim Burton's richly
elaborated take on Roald Dahl's beloved children's book. Entertaining
and fabulously imaginative in many ways, this second bigscreen rendition
of the late author's modest morality tale on the wages of unbridled
excess sports excesses of its own.
Still, most discussion will inevitably center on Johnny Depp's utterly
eccentric performance as reclusive chocolate magnate Willy Wonka.
Kids as well as many adult fans of the star and director should
combine to make the Warner Bros. release a sizable hit (if distrib
could do it with "The Polar Express," it should be able
to do it with this). But a fair number of grown-ups might find themselves
becoming more preoccupied by film's inscrutable subtext than by
the repetitive story itself.
In a role imagined by Dahl as ideal for the late British comedian
Spike Milligan and played in 1971 by Gene Wilder, Depp, who channeled
Keith Richards to great effect in "Pirates of the Caribbean,"
here inescapably comes across as a close relation to Michael Jackson
-- intentionally or not. The fastidious pseudo-Edwardian garb, lavender
gloves, walking stick, immaculately bobbed hair, androgynous air,
inhumanly bluish porcelain skin and childish intonations, along
with his often snippy and literally dismissive attitude toward the
kids he invites into his fabulous domain, create an oddness as likely
to give pause as to enchant.
The very idea of remaking the original film, released by Paramount
as "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," is sacrilegious
to some who grew up on it, although it is hard to overlook that
film's lackluster musical numbers and complete lack of visual style.
Burton's entry is scarcely deficient in the latter category, as
"Charlie" rates as one of the most riotous explosions
of color since "The Gang's All Here," and the advanced
sophistication of effects makes so much possible now that was inconceivable
three decades back.
Dazzling opening credits sequence, a detailing of the chocolate
manufacturing process set to throbbing musical accompaniment, instantly
creates high expectations, which are indeed fulfilled for the first
35 minutes. In an unnamed great industrial city very much like London,
little Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore, Depp's splendid co-star
in "Finding Neverland") lives an emotionally warm but
physically threadbare existence with his parents and two sets of
grandparents in a ramshackle shack. This structure itself is a twisted
marvel of design worthy of a great German Expressionist film, its
occupants a lively lot deftly caricatured by superior thesps.
Burton excels at the barbed exposition. In bold, controlled brush
strokes, he reveals how Charlie has long heard the tale of Willy
Wonka from his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), who toiled at the factory
until all the workers were dismissed 15 years ago. Since then, chocolate
production has continued apace, but no one knows how, and not a
soul has glimpsed the owner himself.
Suddenly, a contest is announced in which five kids who find special
gold tickets hidden in Wonka chocolates will be invited to go on
a personal tour of the enormous factory to be conducted by the mysterious
tycoon. In pithy and amusing fashion, pic renders the international
frenzy the competition sets off, as the parents in privileged families
buy up thousands of candy bars to indulge their sprigs while Charlie's
family can only muster enough money to give him one chance at the
gold.
The first four winners are dreadful brats: There's German fatso
Augustus Gloop, who stuffs his face with chocolate all day; snotty
Brit aristo Veruca Salt, who's every whim is Daddy's command; gum-chewing
Yank brat Violet Beauregarde, whose mom is an older carbon copy;
and American Southern smart-ass Mike Teavee, a violent videogame
freak.
All these loathsome creatures, accompanied by one parent, are spoiled,
self-centered, ill-mannered louts set up as the fully deserving
recipients of Willy Wonka's unexpected, sadistic streak and rep
Dahl's comment on the undisciplined indulgence of the privileged
classes. Deprived Charlie, who miraculously becomes the fifth winner,
seems a simple saint by comparison, and he shows up with Grandpa
Joe outside the Wonka factory on a wintry day in breathless anticipation
of his reward.
But just when the film seems poised to take flight with Depp's entrance
and its "Wizard of Oz"-like passage from the deliberately
muted "real" world into Wonka's fantastical one, it begins
deflating. Having been out of contact with other human beings for
15 years can perhaps explain Wonka's curious quirks, strange pronouncements
and his blanching whenever approached by the kids, whose entreaties
often provoke his instant disdain. But the flashbacks invented by
scenarist John August to show the boy Willy's falling out with his
dentist father (Christopher Lee) only raise the question of why
the adult Willy lost his English accent.
As the factory tour proceeds from one extraordinary chamber to another
-- the first of production designer Alex McDowell's fanciful creations
features hills and dales of green riven by a river of chocolate
-- one child visitor after another is "eliminated" in
semi-gruesome fashion. Unfortunately, these richly deserved comeuppances
become successively less amusing, and they continue with musical
production number accompaniment that similarly starts out smartly
but rapidly pales.
These song-and-dance interludes feature the Oompa-Loompas, diminutive
creatures Wonka imported from a dismal foreign habitat to fill his
labor needs. This aspect of Dahl's 1964 story has always had a slightly
discomfiting colonialist tinge to it, an impression scarcely diminished
in Burton's handling. Casting of a single actor, Deep Roy, to be
visually multiplied to portray all the Oompa-Loompas, initially
seems audacious but becomes tiresome, even though composer Danny
Elfman (who also provides the vocals) works hard to give each tune
a strong musical definition.
Before the trip is over, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
has gone from delectable to curdled, and Depp's performance has
shrunk from bizarrely riveting to one-note and vaguely creepy, turning
Willy Wonka into yet another of Burton's antisocial weirdoes. But
then this is scarcely the first time a Burton film has started out
great only to lose its way with fanciful doodlings and lack of secure
moorings.
As usual with the director, pic is immaculately made, with invention
to be found in every corner and every scene. Casting of all the
supporting roles is terrific.
Film's wide release July 15 will be accompanied by simultaneous
engagements in Imax theaters.
A Warner Bros. release, presented in association
with Village Roadshow Pictures, of a Zanuck Co./Plan B production.
Produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Brad Grey. Executive producers, Patrick
McCormick, Felicity Dahl, Michael Siegel, Graham Burke, Bruce Berman.
Co-producer, Katterli Frauenfelder.
Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay, John August,
based on the book by Roald Dahl.
Willy Wonka - Johnny Depp
Charlie Bucket - Freddie Highmore
Grandpa Joe - David Kelly
Mrs. Bucket - Helena Bonham Carter
Mr. Bucket - Noah Taylor
Mrs. Beauregarde - Missi Pyle
Mr. Salt - James Fox
Oompa-Loompas - Deep Roy
Dr. Wonka - Christopher Lee
Mr. Teavee - Adam Godley
Mrs. Gloop - Franziska Troegner
Violet Beauregarde - Annasophia Robb
Veruca Salt - Julia Winter
Mike Teavee - Jordon Fry
Augustus Gloop - Philip Wiegratz
Little Willy Wonka - Blair Dunlop
Grandma Georgina - Liz Smith
Grandma Josephine - Eileen Essell
Grandpa George - David Morris
Narrator - Geoffrey Holder
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