Review Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

[Doctor Omega]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 film adaptation of the 1964 book of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film was directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket and Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. The storyline concerns Charlie, who takes a tour he has won, led by Wonka, through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world. Development for another adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, filmed previously as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, began in 1991, 20 years after the first film version, which resulted in Warner Bros. providing the Dahl Estate with total artistic control. Prior to Burton's involvement, directors such as Gary Ross, Rob Minkoff, Martin Scorsese and Tom Shadyac had been involved, while Warner Bros. either considered or discussed the role of Willy Wonka with Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Michael Keaton, Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Burton immediately brought regular collaborators Johnny Depp and Danny Elfman aboard. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory represents the first time since The Nightmare Before Christmas that Elfman contributed to the film score using written songs and his vocals. Filming took place from June to December 2004 at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom, where Burton avoided using digital effects as much as possible. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released to critical praise and was a box office success, grossing approximately $475 million worldwide, but received mixed to negative reviews when compared with the original 1971 film.

 

[Hux]

Forgettable, unnecessary, boring, gaudy, CG heavy.

Nah.

 

[filmfan95]

Probably the one movie on my list of favorite movies that I get the most disagreement with, as this one made the list while the Gene Wilder one didn't. While I do enjoy many aspects of the Gene Wilder version, I personally think this movie outshines it in nearly every way. Not just because it's a more faithful adaptation (which doesn't necessarily mean a movie is good anyway), but because it actually makes better use of storytelling. For example, the nut-sorting room is in its proper place, instead of the egg room from the old movie, and while I know that "bad egg" is a real term while "bad nut" is not, using nuts in the scene mirrors the fact that Veruca's father works in a nut business, similar to how the other kids have the things that cause them to stumble mirror things from their everyday life. Symbolism is very important, and I think this movie does a much better job with it. The imagery is also much better in my opinion. I never bought the chocolate room in the old one. Everything looked fake, and I can't suspend my belief that at. It's a movie, not a school play. New movie uses CGI to great effect, including a chocolate river that does NOT look like toilet water. And also, need I say it? There's no more out of place creepy tunnel.

 

[filmfan95]

I found this video recently. It points out a lot of things I've said in the past, and brings up some things I hadn't thought about.