'eye candy" and nothing but....

Rating: 4/10 (31 July 2005)

There is something confusing about Tim Burton's films. When a filmmaker has a weakness, shouldn't he take it upon himself to fix and improve that weakness in their following projects? This is after all, what critics are for: to offer criticism about films and explain what works and what doesn't. Sometimes the director will be ignorant and shrug off the review with a "screw you" attitude and other times it may be a misunderstanding of the critics. "No mister critic, I don't care so much about plot or characters and it's really about the visuals." Is that Tim Burton's excuse? And if so, what's the point?
Tim Burton's adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a visually spectacular film but it's not enough to make a good film. The story is about Charlie Bucket but then its about Willy Wonka and we forget about Charlie. There's not one cut away of Charlie's reaction while being in the factory tour. The other child characters are obnoxious as Dahl intended them to be but they have no depth. They overreact on cue when it is time for them to fall into a trap and leave the others behind. There is no build up to their selfish frustrations. Its as if they see the moment where they wish to escape and die. The last twenty minutes of the film feel rushed and we have to think fast as to how Willy Wonka was so quickly welcomed by the Bucket family.
Critics can see why Tim Burton chose to film this story. It centers on "eye candy." But eye candy is not interesting for a feature if there is not much else to care about. Its like having sex without love. We get dazzling images of chocolate dripping waterfalls and strange looking Oompa Loompa figures and irritating breaks of songs and dance. I especially did'nt care for the background imagery of Oprah Winfrey and Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001. These kinds of visual details ruin the imagination by reminding you what the real world is all about.
There has only been one film where Tim Burton's use of storytelling and character development received critical success. That film was "Ed Wood". Ed Wood is the movie about the late B-movie director from the 50's who made his films from the heart without conforming to traditional narrative styles. The critics did not catch on with him and coincidentally critics have not caught on with Tim Burton' style. The film"Ed Wood" is the only exception. One cannot help but see the irony in this.