Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

[U'ilani]

Let me preface my review by saying that this movie got great reviews and is likely one that you'll enjoy. Now that that's out of the way, here's my review:

Tim Burton's Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/) is unique in its twisted visual and character display, making it sufficiently interesting for adults. However, unlike Nightmare Before Christmas, and certainly unlike the version starring Gene Wilder, it's not a loveable movie and it lacks the capacity to heartily capture the imagination of a child. At church on Sunday, one of the 8-yr-olds I teach who saw the movie twice due to happenstance said the movie was "good," but she didn't have anything more to say about it. My own kids enjoyed it but didn't beg to see it again and never discussed the movie further after we left the theater. Conversely, my 8-yr-old has commented on the Herbie movie a number of times.

There are so many things wrong about this movie--the CGI Oompa Loompas, the uninspiring room with the chocolate waterfall and edible candy flora, the absence of sinister Mr. Slugworth who offers to buy an Everlasting Gobstopper from the children. But the biggest "all-wrong" is the reinvention of Willie Wonka. Gene Wilder's Willie Wonka was a clever man with witty criticisms about the children. He oozed genius-ness, making it understandable that such a person was capable of creating such wondrous candy. Depp, on the other hand, is wooden and listless, handing out dull remarks or no remark at all each time a child is carried off due to indulging in a vice. And why is Depp doing a Stockard Channing/Michael Jackson imitation? It comes off as sick and twisted more than anything else. And do kids really need to see a Freudian exploration of Willie Wonka with those weird flashbacks? Gene Wilder's Wonka left us wondering about the candymaker by the end of the movie. Depp's Wonka is sufficiently revealed that by the end of the movie I was left wondering what pedophiliac crimes he may have committed.

[lavagal]

I haven't seen the movie. I think it is unfortunate that its release was timed so closely to the conclusion of the Michael Jackson trial. From what I see of the stills, Johnny Depp does look spooky. However, I have been told by those who have read the book and have seen both movies that the current release is truer to the book of the same title than Willie Wonka ever was. I'm willing to give it a try with my kids. My boss took his two little girls and said that yes some of it was over their heads, but it wasn't a waste of time spent together.
Johnny Depp is a risk taker. I admire his role selections. He was an amazing pirate and I would eat Chocolat from him anytime!

[U'ilani]

I would eat Chocolat from him anytime!Haha! Me too.

[Glen Miyashiro]

I loved it. Your mileage, obviously, varied.

[pinakboy]

we neva see'em yet but da wife like coz its johnny depp! :eek:

johnny depp no look kinda scary??? he went from psycho in secret window to chocolate man willy wonka! lol :D

in da trailer wen johnny depp tells da guy "you're weird!" i tot dang yup he is. (johnny depp) lol if mah wife see dis post i busted!! hahahaha :D

[pzarquon]

I haven't seen it, and probably won't, at least until it's on DVD. Still, from what I've read, I think I'd like it. Willy Wonka is one of the characters I always thought Johnny Depp was born to play.

I have absolutely no doubt that the Wonka in this latest interpretation is considerably more ambiguous and emotionally complex (okay, fine, creepy) than the cartoon character version most folks know from the earlier film, but I agree that he should therefore be closer to the real nature of the character from the book.

[helen]

Saw it on a Saturday afternoon with a friend. I sort of like the narration that sounded like it came from Christopher Lee, the glass elevator and the flashbacks in the movie.