Solid Burton film

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2009)

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was never one of those books, that were part of my childhood, nor have I read it later in life, so I watched this adaptation with out knowledge of how things go on in the book. Also, I haven't seen the 1971 adaptation, so my view is formed only by this movie.
Willy Wonka (Jhonny Depp) is a recluse chocolate manufacturer, who lives in a huge factory. One day he hides 5 golden tickets inside the candy bars he makes, so that 5 lucky children could spend a day in his magical factory with their parents. One of the winners is of course Charlie (Freddie Highmore), who is a poor, yet good and honest boy. The other kids are obese Augustus (Philip Wiegratz), competitive Violet ( AnnaSophia Robb), spoiled and rich Veruca (Julia Winter) and know it all Mike (Jordan Fry).
Together the children, accompanied by their parents, are lead by Willy Wonka in the huge factory, that is filled with whimsical gadgets, astonishing discoveries and small Oompa Loompas (Deep Roy), who are servants and workers of Wonka's factory. But little do they know, that Wonka has an ulterior motive of having the kids visiting the factory.
Visually the movie is just as good you can expect director like Tim Burton to deliver. The sound track by Danny Elfman is again spot on for the atmosphere and settings of the film and the actors do a very good job.
In short, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is such a movie, you'd expect seasoned film maker like Burton to make. Despite I had some script issues with the story, the other parts of the film work so well, that it is easy to forgive some oddities displayed in the film.