| ||
Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | ||
What do you think of this story? Bad Links? | Golden ticket everyone winsFour and a half stars Tim Burton is one of those directors whose visual style, regardless of how good the rest of the film is, always delivers the goods. And Johnny Depp is one of those actors who can make every part he plays a completely unique character, even when that character is completely absurd. Once again, the team that brought us the oddly charming Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood, has conjured up a delicious confection with a sinister chewy center. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Roald Dahl childrens classic is perfectly suited to Burtons twisted imagination. The 1971 musical extravaganza, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, a beloved classic to baby boomers and beyond, has been retooled for a new generation. The innocence of sweet, little Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) remains, but the landscape of the tale itself reeks of the 21st century. The self-obsessed characters, who join Charlie and his grandfather on the tour, are products of todays excesses. The kids run the show and the show is a violent sugar-induced nightmare. Thats not to say the movie itself isnt a delightful, kaleidoscopic joyride. It is! Theres just more meat to the candy this time. Gene Wilders wild-haired Wonka has been replaced with a creepy, but lovable Depp creation thats one part Michael Jackson and one part Crispen Glover. Its a startling makeover for the famous candy man, but Depp brings him to life and kills off the old Wonka of the early 70s with one, little snippety remark. I dont care. The third element of this magical story, the Oompa-Loompas, also gets the full treatment. Danny Elfman, who scores the film in his usually lush fashion, gets to dig up Oingo Boingo roots to produce a set of songs for the little workers to perform. In this instance, the original films silly cautionary ditties are buried, as the newer, hipper Oompa-Loompas march and dance through the eye-popping set pieces like Munchkins on mescaline. All played by one stone-faced little man named Deep Roy, the Oompa-Loompas give this chocolate factory a new lease on life. A few added dimensions include Depps discovery of the little people of Loompaland, and a series of flashbacks involving Wonkas childhood. Burton gives us added detail in these scenes. We learn about the Oompa-Loompas love of cocoa beans and pulverized caterpillars in one. In the other, we are shown the early struggles with orthodontic headgear, which Willy endured thanks to his dentist father played by the aging Christopher Lee. If theres one element to the film that seems out of place, its the maudlin reunion of Willy Wonka and his father. The movie races along like a well-oiled machine and then suddenly drops into low gear for a quick stop in Syrup-town. Burton stays pretty faithful to the book in every other respect except in this last little plot development. Perhaps he was trying to soften what has really been a guilty pleasure for grown-ups all along, with a Sunday school moral at the end. It feels fake and tacked on. The effect is such that the ending feels flat. The children all get what they deserve, including Charlie, and once again, we are all older and wiser from the experience. I cant help but think that the director could have put a little more effort into Wonkas personal dilemma instead of sending us out with a big, half -chewed sucker.
| |
Copyright 2004-Fayette Publishing, Inc. |