between heaven and hell

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2006)

I haven't watched the first version supposedly mixed of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) dismissed by Roald Dahl and so I will eschew any comparison with this long-anticipated cover directed by Tim Burton. I watched it a few days ago and the first thing that comes to mind about it is that Tim Burton's version is a wonderful example of how the adaptation of a book for children for the silver screen can be transcended into a stylish, prime rendering. Anyway, when I heard that the filmmaker of gems like "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Ed Wood" (1994) or "Sleepy Hollow" (1999) planned to give a fresh cinematic rendering of Roald Dahl's work, I thought it was highly likely to be a triumph by any standards. The novel alchemy of these two authors worked wonders to deliver a "Burtonian" film to the core. From film to film, the filmmaker pursues his exploration of the strange with these offbeat characters who are generally outcast and the inclusion of the whimsical in the everyday life.
To make the 5 little lucky children visit the coveted dream factory, Tim Burton's imagination is in full swing. It's visually a feast for the eyes with a succession of quirky, fanciful moments fraught with oddball ideas and bathing in an ocean of colors. It is pure rapture that is prevailing in the viewer's mind who is sliding in pure wonder before so many used visual, thoughtful effects and devices to deliver a solid portion of dream and escape.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" also ensures continuity with Tim Burton's precedent works because analogies can be found with several of his previous films. A town with many houses and shops gathered and at the edge of the city, a somewhat isolated, mysterious place where lives a bizarre outcast who generates fascination among the inhabitants. Doesn't it remind you of "Edward Scissorhands"? Moreover, the machinery system could be an echo of Edward's inventor's. Then, if the town has realist British accents in its architecture, Charlie's house seems to be built in a Gothic one and Tim Burton's taste for Gothic trend stands out once again after having come to the forefront in "Batman" (1989) or "Sleepy Hollow". The interior of the house includes amusing details: Charlie's grandparents spend most of their days in a big bed. At last, the end of the film is similar to "Big Fish" (2003) insofar as it showcases the lack of communication between Wille Wonka and his father and their reconciliation.
To come back to the story, the audience is caught in a jaunty walk behind the walls of the chocolate factory just like the visitors and however, this state of bliss seems to be short-lived. This place has something ominous like a big haunted house from which one couldn't escape with its long corridors and spacious rooms. Something the viewer feels when the visitors are at the threshold of the firm with the mechanical dolls singing and dancing before finally being burnt. This fanciful, almost fictional world conceal doubtful, unnerving parts, beginning with Willy Wonka himself. Under his wry, laid-back appearance, this character has an eerie part of ambiguity. He is cut off from the exterior world and barely worries about the unfortunate fate of the 4 smug young imps and one can fuel doubts about their mishaps: were they premeditated? Finally, Willy Wonka has to come to terms with the demons of his past to be in peace with himself and to be a human being.
Of course, as a whole, one could object that the form tends to be favored over the contents with a rather linear master plan especially with the installments concerning the four pretentious brats who are punished of their own sins but Tim Burton keeps his distance from the moralizing, stereotyped aspects of the storytelling. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is also a tale that shelters emotion and tenderness mainly brought on by Charlie's grandfather.
The cast is equal to the sum of the story and its treatment. Johnny Depp who had already acted in a so-so movie dealing with chocolate, "Chocolat" (2000) by Lasse Hallstrom can be once again grateful to Tim Burton to have conceived him a tailor-made role for him in which he's constantly fit in.
All you have to do is to sit down and savor a well-rounded delicacy from a connoisseur in storytelling who added one more canonical contribution to a monument (a figurative sense for his filmography) that cuts a fine figure. Go on like that Mr. Burton! Would Roald Dahl have appreciated this bracing result?