Sensually Stimulating, Cerebally Deadening

Rating: 6/10 (8 January 2006)

Like most of Burton's work, 99.98% of the energy here and Id imagine budget went straight to set design and costume, and the perfect camera-work to get it juuust right. I admit that Tim Burton has made a couple of films that I count among my favorites. When it works, its pretty damn amazing. But as we are reminded in Charlie, more often then not, it doesn't work. To be fair, I cant really knock the visual impact this film delivers. And if that alone sates your movie-going appetite, you will love Charlie. If you are like me however, and expect more for your 11 quid than 5 music videos linked by an insipid narrative with hollow characterizations, Charlie is quite likely to make you once again involuntarily utter, 'man there's a lot of bad movies out there these days.'
Tim Burton presents Charlie and the Chocolates Factory and ostensibly seeks to pull off not just a remake, but a re-telling more in line with the actual Roald Dahl's children's classic. What was wrong with the Gene Wilder film? Good question. Again visually its the bomb-digger, you cant argue with it. Plotwise, for the most part, ain't bad. So whats the problem you ask? The film doesn't play, at all!! The characters especially the main characters other than Wonka and perhaps Charlie, have about as much flesh on them as the Corpse Bride and muster zero sympathy. The film wows your senses and even delights you with the song and dance numbers, the only real achievement of the film in my estimation, but does a very poor job in storytelling. Very poor. The emotional impact that touched all of my generation, is nowhere to be found in the remake. We get this quandary a lot now with these remakes that are so technically superior to their predecessor, that you feel stupid not calling them an improvement on the original. As far as the Charlie comparison is concerned, the remake's only attribute is that it helps make the original shine even more brilliantly. Which sadly brings me to my final observation. This film has the distinction of showcasing Johhny Depp in what might be his worst characterization of his great career. Depps Wonka looks for all the world like a Technicolor incarnation of the fiend in the lost silent classic, London After Midnight. He 'acts' like the alleged fiend known as pop star Michael Jackson, and sounds exactly like Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie!!!! Put a hatchet in his hand, and you'd have the makings of a good Hammer film. Doesn't exactly work or belong here, Sheila.