The Sweetest Movie of the Year

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2006)

It's hard to describe your experiences in a Tim Burton movie. They are odd, to say the least, and sometimes creepy. Sometimes they are colorful, and sometimes they're black. But they are always something special, and Burton doesn't let us down in his latest flick "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." It's a moving coloring book, with stunningly beautiful colors and creative sets and costumes. It just makes me sad that the real world isn't this rich.
The most common misconception about the movie is that it is a remake of the timeless "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." It's not. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory isn't a remake, but rather another adaptation of the classic children's story of the same title. Keeping true to the book, screenwriter John August mixes quirky humor and creepy tempo to concoct one of the year's best movies.
"Charlie" is a story of an ordinary little boy named Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore). He was not faster, or stronger, or more clever than other children. His family was not rich or powerful or well-connected; in fact, they barely had enough to eat. But Charlie was the luckiest boy in the whole world, he just didn't know it yet.
Charlie lives with his family; his two parents and his four grandparents. His grandparents: Joe, Josephine, George, and Georgina, never leave their bed, and Georgina is a little out of it, to say the least. Charlie sleeps next to a hole in the wall, which can be quite cold in winter, but he doesn't care, because the hole allows him to look at the greatest chocolate factory in the world, the one belonging to Willy Wonka.
After some fifteen years, Willy Wonka decides to open his factory gatesfor five lucky people. He places five golden tickets in five ordinary Wonka bars, the finders of which win a tour through his amazing factory. As people around the world frantically buy Wonka bars in search of the tickets, they are slowly found, one here, one there. Charlie desperately wants to go to the factory, but he only gets one bar of chocolate a year, on his birthday.
Johnny Depp gives one of the best performances of his career as the eccentric chocolate entrepreneur Willy Wonka. His exotic style and off-beat jokes almost mock Michael Jackson, but are original in its own. Depp leads an already all star cast including Helena Bonham Carter, Christopher Lee, and Deep Roy (who might as well be the star of the movie). Tim Burton directed it, and Danny Elfman created the score.
No one ever thought it, but Charlie has actually surpassed its predecessor. Burton has delivered another classic, putting it up there with Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. But Charlie and the Chocolate Factory isn't just mere entertainment, it also teaches us something. It reinforces the age old themes "greed is not a virtue," and "curiosity killed the cat." But all virtues aside, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is definitely worth a viewing or two, and is by far the year's sweetest movie.