Wonka's New Candy: Sweet or Sour?

Rating: 4/10 (28 November 2005)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is not another version of the 1971 movie. It has nothing to do with the former movie and is supposed to be adapted from Road Dahl's novel. However, the new movie takes a cute and imaginative children's book and begins to twist it into a weird, disturbing and slightly aggressive movie. If the movie had dove into the idea and had created a dark movie, I would have respected the 2005 movie much more. Yet, the movie was spineless, the center of a tug-of-war match between the dark-side and children's fantasy.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory could have been an amazing adventure for both children and children at heart, or it could have been an amusing film for those who enjoy dark humor. The film's portrayal of Willy Wonka was that of a mysterious young man with a dark-side. This could have created a great canvas for a movie in which Wonka acts according to his personality; however, the film just flip-flops from a cheesy and generic scene of a (spoiler warning!) happy ending to a stirring character pulling his audience into a dark, disturbing world.
If this movie would have firmly chosen a path, it would have been an excellent movie. This movie can be enjoyable to children or to adults, yet does not greatly appeal to either age group. If the movie had been created to create a land of "pure imagination", children of all ages would rave about the film for years to come. If it had been created in order for a peculiar audience to ponder over, the movie could have created a dark enough movie to be mused over. However, this film wasn't brave enough to choose its own category, therefore can't be completely enjoyed by many solid minds