Road to creativity

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2005)

Tim Burton usually creates wonderful fantasy movies but this time he adds an extra layer that lifts it above his previous work. Part of this comes from the story by Roald Dahl, but here he squeezes everything out of it and then some.
Chocolate making serves here in the story and movie as a metaphor for creative thinking. Four children represent a characteristic that hinders creative thinking: greed, excessive competitiveness, money and science. Each is eliminated in the road to creativity except for a heart (family values). These are incorporated in the end to give sense to the creative process. One level higher we have Johnny Depp as the creative actor and Tim Burton as the creative moviemaker. Both face the same obstacles as Willy Wonka; Tim Burton is Willy Wonka to be more precise.
The movie resembles and refers to The Wizard of Oz in its sets and music. And there is a nice reference to 2001 when Mike Teavee is made shorter, 2001 being one of the most creative movies ever made. The criticism of TV is still up to date nowadays.
This succeeds also thanks to the wonderful work of the production and art departments but it is the cinematography of Philippe Rousselot that gives the movie something extras in shaping the worlds. Once he did Diva, a movie that redefined existing art direction. The enormous color contrast between the gray cities and the colorful sets enhance the experience here.
Anyone who thinks this is about Jackson hasn't got the message. Besides that Burton has clearly dismissed all references. There is however a short dance by one of the children that resembles Jackson's and the interpretation of his role by Depp makes all the gossip somewhat understandable.
The songs are not the most creative parts and somewhat repetitious. They could have edited this to a shorter movie. Why do most movie makers still think that more is more?