A bit disappointing, but not too bad either

Rating: 7/10 (5 January 2006)

The story 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is originally by Roald Dahl, a man with a giant dose of fantasy, and just like Tim Burton, a (sometimes) morbid kind of humour. This story is about little and poor Charlie Bucket, who magically finds a Golden Ticket in the wrapping of a Willy Wonka's chocolate bar. This ticket gives him the opportunity to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, a place where no one has come in or out for many, many years. Together with his grandfather Jacob, and the finders of the four other Golden Tickets, he enters the magical world of Willy Wonka. Many surprises await him, including a big prize.
Tim Burton is my favourite director, and Roald Dahl is my favourite writer, so I had high expectations of this movie. But I'm a bit disappointed. And I blame John August, who wrote the screenplay. I don't really mind that they change the story a bit, but only if it is for the better. On the one hand they spiced it up a little, by making Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) weirder than ever, by making the kids and parents (except Charlie) more obnoxious, putting the Oompa-Loompas in latex suits with vivid colours, giving it all a sharper edge I had no problems with that. That they gave Wily Wonka a past, and a father, well  OK. But it also took the myth and the mystery around Willy Wonka away (he could have at least come from another planet) But what I really, really disliked about this adaptation is that they also sweetened it up  a lot. First of all, Charlie is said to be a normal kid, but he isn't: he is so sweet and so moralistic that he is everything but normal. Second, and worst, they created a whole new ending telling us how important family is, showing Willy Wonka as a poor traumatised man. Roald Dahl's version of the story is already rather moralistic, by telling us it is bad for kids to watch too much TV, to be spoiled by their parents, to eat too much candy, to constantly chew gum, That family is important, is present in the book too, just by showing how close Charlie's family is, but why, oh why did they have to exaggerate on this aspect in the movie? By changing the story, by spicing and sweetening it up at the same time, you get a confusing mix of craziness and morals, of fun and seriousness. Because it constantly changes it is impossible to get completely sucked into the atmosphere, like I usually experience when watching Burton-films. One moment it's all sparkling crazy fun, the next moment we go back to Willy Wonka's traumatic youth, this breaks the tempo of the wild ride on the great chocolate river.
Besides this, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this movie, on the contrary. Visually, this is a real Burton film, except that it is more colourful (most of the time) than most of his oeuvre. The scenery looks magical (I especially loved the little house the Bucket family lives in). Another thing that was typically Tim Burton is that everything is a bit weirder than it already was in the Roald Dahl story. Everything and everybody looks and acts very surreal. First of all it is rather weird that all the Oompa-Loompas are all played by Deep Roy, and consequently all look the same. (Female Oompa-Loompas are also Deep Roy, but dressed in women's clothes) As I already said, Willy Wonka is weirder than ever. I've never seen Johnny Depp so crazy, and that is saying something. The kids are just as surreal as Willy Wonka, the movie makers even added some obnoxious habits to the kids' characters. The young actors, picked out to portray them, are absolutely great.
Danny Elfman had lots of fun composing the music for the Oompa-Loompa songs that go with Roald Dahl's lyrics, and I had lots of fun listening to them, and watching the crazy dances of the Oompa-Loompas while singing. He chose a different style for every song (Broadway, 70's, rock, ) and Tim Burton added a matching dance for each one.
The movie is lots of fun, it's like watching the craziest and weirdest circus show, suffused with beautiful visuals. If it wasn't for the spoiled story this would have been a definite four star movie, maybe even five. It makes me almost angry knowing how magnificent this movie could have been, why didn't they just stick to the fun stuff?