Some Nice Flourishes, But Pretty Flat.

Rating: 5/10 (18 January 2007)

'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' starts off well, has a long and flat mid-section and comes together again at the end. Since I know the story, I wasn't very interested when each kid was being disposed of one by one. It was extremely faithful to the book during this section and there were no surprises. Even the art-direction and costumes just seemed to blend into a bright and gaudy blur after a while. Ho hum.
As for the acting, Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) as Charlie Bucket shows that he's a dependable guy. However, Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka misses the mark. Sure he's odd, and I think people appreciated that his interpretation was seemingly original, but his performance is very similar to what he did in 'Ed Wood.' It's not really the same in tone but more in wide-eyed mannerisms. Depp's moments of deep disdain for the kids were a nice touch, but I also liked Gene Wilder's deadpan indifference in the original movie. The oompa loompas were just annoying, and it doesn't help that Danny Elfman isn't much of a songwriter. Sure he's done some good ones - ie 'This is Halloween' from 'A Nightmare Before Christmas' - but he's much better at just composing the score.
Like I said, the beginning was interesting. Burton puts in many nice flourishes and it was interesting to see how he was adapting the book. The tone, props, characters and sets were fine. Like I said, the middle will really drag to those who know how each kids goes. The ending goes off in a direction that gives it a tad more narrative continuity.