Blueberry scene one of the most disappointing....

Rating: 3/10 (2 December 2005)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a few interesting visual moments, but overall it's one of the biggest disappointments of 2005. It seems to me that Tim Burton did a lot of things in this movie because he could -- not necessarily because it was it made the overall film better. One particular scene sums up what I found most unlikable: Violet's transformation into a giant blueberry. Just because CGI technology made it possible to make Violet swell to gigantic proportions, that's no reason to do it. In the original Willy Wonka film, it was clear that even as Violet grew, she was still portrayed by a real little girl (Denise Nickerson). In this version, within moments after the transformation begins, we're looking at a cartoon character -- and not a particularly convincing one at that. The original film had scary moments, because even if you disliked the naughty children, you likely felt some compassion when they were in peril. In this version, I didn't care whether the cartoonish kids were in danger or not. The whole film suffers from this problem -- it has no heart. (Another example is the emotionless, unattractive Oompa Loompas. Bleh. And the creepy back story about Willy's dentist father...those flashbacks only served to pull us out of the factory and certainly didn't make Wonka any more likable.) I thought Tim Burton had hit an all-time career low when he mangled Planet of the Apes. But his work on CATCF is even worse. Most of his original work, like Edward Scissorhands, is great, but I hope he keeps his hands off any more classic films.