taking it on its own terms, the film is good overall, some great things, some not so great

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2005)

It's tempting as a critic to go straight for the easy route a compare/contrast the 1971 Mel Stuart adaptation of Roahl Dahl's classic book of children's fantasy, and the 2005 adaptation by Tim Burton. But I think it would be more beneficial for readers on this site to just discuss the film on its own terms, as best as possible. In the end, I found much of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be successful, but with some flaws/personal quips.
On the technical side of the film, it's near flawless- Tim Burton is, indeed, one of only several visionaries working in the mainstream Hollywood system (mostly, I'd guess, out of his movies grossing so much over the years). In the compositions he chooses, in utilizing Alex McDowell's wonderful production design, in giving many of the scenes colors (or lacking in them) to heighten the mood, he has a distinctive style that doesn't seem to loose its energy, even in the less momentous (or overly so) parts of the film. Adding to that is the instantly recognizable music score by Danny Elfman, and the atmosphere is set to a good stance to Dahl's original story.
With the acting side, the performances from the children are faithful to the book's descriptions, in particular Freddie Highmore as Charlie, with a genuine good soul in a sea of spoiled and rotten kids (and parents). All of this is fine, and then comes Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. If Gene Wilder in the 1971 version made Wonka his own, so does Depp, which is at the least to his credit. At times he can be hysterically funny, in just the little physical actions and facial expressions. He fits the eccentric, slightly off-putting qualities of Wonka well, but at times he also seems a little uncomfortable in the role.
The script by John August gives, un-like in the book where a reader had to fill in the gaps, a back-story of Wonka's childhood and how he became the way he is. But it tries to explain too much, while at the same time not explaining enough. Only towards the end of the film does Depp give Wonka another side to him, and what I was left with was seeing an actor portraying a complex character in what should have been a not-so complex story. While Chistopher Lee in these back-story scenes is dependable as always, it seems a little too much to put on the plate- Depp can play weird well, but he can also play sincere, and the film doesn't give him good room to do his work on one more than the other.
Burton can get brilliant with some of his excesses of the bizarre, but this time it becomes a little much. The Oompa Loompas, the strange little people who populate Wonka's factory, working for their beloved cocoa beans, are all clones in this film (I'm not sure that was how it was in the book, which is fine), and give elaborate, over-the-top, impromptu musical numbers following each of the children's demises (i.e. Augustus Gloop loving chocolate too much, Violet with the gum, et all). It wasn't so much of the portrayal of the oompa loompas that I thought didn't work- I found the scenes involving the Oompa's back-story in the jungle to be very funny- but they tend to be strange just for the sake of it to the story, and the musical numbers are so over-the-top, so inexcusable (in a Monty Python sort of way, not necessarily a bad thing in that context), that it interferes with the rest of the story. The rest of the film is not a musical except for when they appear, which also gives the film a little inconsistency.
So at heart, I was glad that Burton was able to give an interpretation (granted by Burton and the filmmaker's claims it's not a remake of the 71 film) of Dahl's novel that gives room for criticism, as opposed to some of the recent flood of Hollywood remakes and adaptations that make me feel almost indifferent to how bland and average it is. Whatever faults I did have with the film, be it with the script or some of the performances, the pros tended to outweigh the cons, and that a director's imagination, when let loose properly, can make for an entertaining time. Much like with Burton's first film twenty years ago, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, his films work delights in original ways on kids as well as adults.