Virtue Magazine

Movie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Christopher Lee
Directed by Tim Burton
Rated PG
Running time: 115 minutes
3 ½ stars out of 5

Orange faced Oompa Loompas in striped shirts, geese laying golden eggs, multitudes of memorable songs. This is what formed “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Gene Wilder’s unrivaled performance of Willy Wonka and the charming innocence of Peter Ostrum’s Charlie Bucket. Ever since it came out in 1971 it has been a favourite in families around the world.

I must admit, I grew up on it. “I Found a Golden Ticket” and “Oompa Loompa Doompety Dee” were familiar phrases to me. My first ballet performance was a ballet of the movie. Complete with the Oompa Loompa songs. Chocolate Factory wasn’t just another movie, it was part of my life. We’d watch it once a month practically. So when I heard they were remaking the book, I was naturally unsure of the end result.

Coming into the movie theater I was both excited and anxious. Here was something new, an old favourite revisited, yet… Willy Wonka was still embedded in my mind. How would this new version compare with the old? As the movie began I was mentally comparing the two… Wonka did this whereas Charlie did this. Could Johnny Depp measure up to Gene Wilder in the least?

Despite the fact that I entered the theatre determined to compare and contrast the two to the last, it didn’t take long for Charlie to whirl me away on its own course. True to what Tim Burton said, this was not a remake of Wonka, it was a remake of the book. To my great delight Veruca met her fate at the hands, or should I say paws, of the squirrels in the nut room rather than by her greed for a golden egg. Mr. Bucket arrived home each evening, and eventually lost his job at the toothpaste factory just as Roald Dahl wrote it. The Oompa Loompas were dark pygmies rather than orange faced green haired midgets.

However, I cannot deny that Charlie couldn’t stay immune to Hollywood’s unnatural affinity to adding material (as can be seen in The Lord of the Rings). Willy Wonka has a father, and he must learn that family isn’t as bad as he thought before Charlie can accept the Chocolate Factory. Though not appearing in Dahl’s classic tale, it provides a welcome approval of family. Yet this not-so-subtle endorsement does not leave the film untarnished. A rather startling and unnerving aspect of the film was Willy Wonka’s unnatural likeness of Michael Jackson. Like Jackson and Neverland, Wonka also brought children into his own home/factory. The good news is that aside from that and the physical appearance, the image of Michael Jackson has left – Wonka is not fond of children and is very uncomfortable around them.

All told, Charlie is a heart-warming and fun movie.. Definitely not one of your “drop everything and go see it now” films, but not one to be avoided. If you get the chance, I recommend it, but don’t go out of your way. Waiting for it to come out on VHS and DVD may be one of the best options available to you.