A creative, colorful, and very fun letdown.

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2005)

I was looking forward to this movie most of anybody. I'd followed it from pre-production. All of my favorite critics loved it, and I was told by matineed friends that I would love it. And by God I wanted to love it.
I struggled. Every time something happened that struck me the wrong way, I pretended I didn't really notice. But unfortunately, those things added up quickly.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I couldn't make a stand on whether or not I thought Charlie was a good movie. I feel like I can't say it's a bad movie, because there are too many wonderful pieces and moments to save it from that judgment. But I can't say it's a good movie either, because it fails on so many levels.
Take the inclusion of Willy Wonka's father, for instance. A character not in the book, Burton's decision to make Wonka a man troubled by his estranged paternal relationship only added a level of cheesiness that seriously hindered the film's capacity to intrigue us. Wonka is a character of mystery, he is the great recluse of our time--a character who revels in childish inanity but is also gifted with extraordinary genius (he has made the impossible possible). To explain his character so simply and Hallmarky (he just needed Daddy to love him!) completely betrays what he is supposed to represent. Wonka doesn't have these Freudian issues--he is the embodiment of creative glee.
Secondly, take the EXclusion of the fizzy-lifting drink theft. Besides reducing the chocolate factory to essentially four explored rooms (one for each naughty child), it robs the humanity from Charlie and his grandfather. They are fallible! The point is that they are well-intentioned. Their mistake serves to show us both that there is no perfection and that intentions make the man.
As I just said, the chocolate factory itself was seriously dampened. It seems that here Burton and Co. spent endless time designing the four disaster rooms, and merely created weak filler for the rest.
And last but certainly not least is the CGI. Not just cartoonish, the CGI in this film was completely distracting. Maybe it's just me, but I can't stand the look of the stuff. In Star Wars it bothers me too, but I'm willing to accept it because the entire world is computer-generated. However, to have a room filled with fantastic tangible gadgets and then insert a PlayStation 2 quality blueberry girl is distracting and lazy. Burton used to be a wizard with visual effects. Take the makeup in Edward Scissorhands, the monsters in Beetlejuice, the villains and gadgets in Batman, even the gore effects in his last great movie, Sleepy Hollow. Willy Wonka's factory should appear cartoonish and bizarre, yes, but not impossible. By using CGI instead of creative effects, we are being told that it is in fact IMPOSSIBLE for these things to exist in real life. They have to be fabricated, drawn in.
Of course, the film has its great moments. The adaptation of the book is faithful, right down to the Oompa Loompa lyrics. Charlie's house is slanted, and I was happy to see the story of the Sultan come to the screen. Depp's Wonka is seriously flawed (I just think it's not an appropriate incarnation of Dahl's character), but he does pull off the occasional moment of maniacal genius. The children are much more realistic in this day and age, children I recognized from my life. And Burton's exaggerated color schemes are brilliant, his characters properly caricatured, his comedic timing perfected. Freddie Highmore is an amazing little boy actor.
I really wanted to LOVE this movie. And I will see it again. But right now I must maintain it was neither good nor bad, it just wasn't Dahl. It opted to replace his black satirical warmth with an obvious warmth. It too often went for the obvious joke when the opportunity arose. And between its magnificent pieces it did something no Dahl adaptation should ever do--it got boring.
Just to clarify, I didn't hate it. I just didn't like it very much. I'm sure a lot of people are going to love this movie, but I for one couldn't lie to myself. I'd love to pretend that it was dark, that it was diabolically ingenious, that it was smart, that it was amazing. And you know what? If little kids go see this and are completely awed then Tim Burton has done his job. It just wasn't for me. And I couldn't convince myself it was, no matter how much I wanted to.
B- A creative, colorful, and very fun letdown.