A stunning remake that is more faithful to Roald Dahl's book than the original

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2013)

As a child 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' was my favourite Roald Dahl book and 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' was one of my favourite films. When I saw this at the cinema with my mother when I was 18, I was impressed with how this was more faithful to the book than the original, albeit containing flashbacks of Wonka's childhood alongside additional scenes that were not mentioned in the book and leaving out the Lickable Wallpaper for Nurseries that was featured in the original film. Since my cinema viewing, I watched this film several times when I received it on DVD for Christmas and I watched this at my pen friend's house when I visited her for the day and she laughed at it more than I did.
The scenery is an improvement over that in the original, which was vibrantly coloured but had a chocolate river that was more like muddy water and oddly-shaped Everlasting Gobstoppers, by being as colourful but having a more realistic chocolate river and round gobstoppers. I liked the Oompa Loompas' musical numbers here as much as those from the original because they had exactly the same lyrics as those in the book; however the song about Mike Teavee (who deviated from the book and original film by playing video games instead of watching TV) is forgettable despite the channel changes including him in every programme, the 1960s boyband spoof and the 'Psycho' parody being my favourites. I also liked the stock footage from '2001: A Space Odyssey' and its music. Further to the songs, the musical score by Danny Elfman (a regular collaborator with Tim Burton) is haunting yet whimsical particularly the opening music that accompanies the opening sequence of the interior of a chocolate factory. Technically this is darker than the original, especially the flashbacks of Wonka's childhood, but the boat ride here is not as scary as that in the original. Moving on to the characters, Charlie and Augustus here had exactly the same personalities as the original and this version's Violet is tougher but Veruca is not as spoilt as she was in the original and instead of watching TV, Mike plays video games. Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompas were preferable in the original film but I liked the inclusion of Charlie's father here and his job at the toothpaste factory. I also liked the squirrel scene with Veruca being sent down the garbage chute because I love squirrels and this is one part that is more faithful to the book than the original. A lot of the dialogue is similar to that in the book if a little corny and random at times, particularly Grandma Georgina saying she likes grapes and Wonka later telling her she smells of old people and soap, which is stereotypical in a sense. The other part I liked that was close to the book was the story of Prince Pondicherry's chocolate palace.
Overall this is a charming if dark remake of a childhood favourite with a satisfying number of scenes that match the narrative of the book. 8/10.