Who and the Chocolate Factory?

Rating: 5/10 (30 August 2006)

It's interesting to compare titles between this version of the beloved Roald Dahl novel and Mel Stuart's 1971 adaptation, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Why? Because, for Burton's movie in particular, the 1971 choice seems far more appropriate.
It's not that I have anything in particular against Johnny Depp's performance here. I don't rank it as one of his best, granted, but it's a perfectly respectable interpretation of the character. However, as the title of both movie and book should make abundantly clear, Willy Wonka is NOT the main character in this story. Why, then, does Charlie seemingly become a minor character as soon as Wonka enters the fray? It certainly isn't a reflection of Freddie Highmore's performance as Charlie, which is by all accounts absolutely brilliant and undoubtedly the highlight of the movie. It can't be explained in terms of the flow of the film, as for the first fifteen minutes or so we are entirely focused on Charlie. So why, Burton, why? All it achieves is a complete negation of audience interest in the film, transforming Wonka from mysterious outsider to sympathetic protagonist.
Burton's Charlie... is potentially a great adaptation. Stylistically it is great and the humour is in places both hilarious and very Dahlesque (particular highlights being the 'house of flags' sequence and Veruca's downfall at the hands of the squirrels). However, it completely fails to work as a real, fully-fledged movie as it seems to completely forget which character it's actually about. Such a calamitous mistake is particularly disheartening from a director with such a brilliant track record with outlandish character studies - see the likes of Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Batman... - although, looking at such a list, one can maybe see why. Burton's fascination is always with the exotic, with the outcast rather than the everyman. The problem here is that, in adapting a novel concerning an ordinary boy's encounter with an extraordinary man, he only manages to shift the focus halfway. Disappointing, to say the least.
Just one more thing: in a movie where some of the plot exposition is related through song, it is generally advisable to make the lyrics intelligible. Oh, and the songs actually decent.