Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Tim Burton ignores the darkness and goes far beyond the kitsch of opulent color to literally create a breathtaking world made from the sweetest ingredients. He does a great job with the exaggeration, and such an overly pathetic story about family cohesion is in fact not awkward, but rather endearing. Johnny Depp's eccentric acting is just as entertaining as the little Oompa-Loompas, whose songs may be a bit self-indulgent, but what isn't in this film? Burton exaggerated everything so beautifully that I ate it up completely. And I very much enjoyed it. (14/04/2006)

Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I'm ashamed to admit I haven't seen the 1971 film yet) is quite possibly the best adaptation of Roald Dahl's work. Burton's film, as is his way, is brimming with gorgeous (albeit at times very digital) visuals and beautiful sets. The driving force behind the whole story is Johnny Depp, who’s always good in the role of quirky oddballs, he manages to portray the goofy chocolate factory owner to perfection. I've never found myself liking Freddie Highmore, and even after many screening, that hasn't changed. The other actors are all well suited to their roles, even if they didn't have as much space – I was most impressed with Christopher Lee and the quartet of grandparents. Anyone who doesn't like Burton's style will probably suffer with Charlie, but I enjoyed this sweet excursion between the Oompa-Loompas, the squirrels and the whipped cream immensely. PS: “Everything in this room is eatable, even *I'm* eatable! But that is called ‘cannibalism’, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.” (22/10/2022)

For me, watching Tim Burton films means visiting my home in an alternative world. Each of them is like a cozy house with a fireplace and a family of archetypal motifs, characters and techniques that "make" Burton's characteristic poetics. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory presents a work absolutely immersed in the precise visuality and typical plasticity of the fantastic world of the bizarre chocolate magician Willy Wonka. The incredible explosion of colors and sounds is managed with absolute bravura, and in addition to the dynamic ride on the chocolate river, there is, as always, room for drawing characters. True, the middle passage is perhaps too fixed on the image, but the fireworks of the invention and the great melodies of Danny Elfman are so captivating that one forgives the film for this. The highlight is undoubtedly the parody quote from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and also the strange tension between the kindly fairy-tale humor and the suspected edge of black humor, without which one can no longer imagine Tim... But after all this, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory comes out extraordinarily harmoniously and all the supposed sharp edges are ground down with a beautiful finale. The adornment of Burton's delicacy is definitely Johnny Depp, whose Wonka balances somewhere between the fragility of Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow) and the eccentricity of Captain Jack Sparrow. As in Finding Neverland, duet with Freddie Highmore is beautiful, despite the much more limited space. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory may not be as exciting in terms of content, yet its visuals, humor, magic and charm create another gem from the workshop of the weirdo Tim. (21/01/2006)

The Burton - Elfman - Depp trio make this picture an original, typically Burton-like, screwy movie. It’s a family movie where mainly the adults in the audience do all the laughing, because Tim approached it.. Simply in his own way. One crazy idea follows another; total stylization; Depp’s Willy Wonka is somewhere between Michael Jackson and Marylin Manson and it is all accompanied by an absolutely madcap soundtrack by Danny Elfman. There is not much of a story; it’s more like a road movie traveling through this fairytale factory, with the center of attention in the form of Depp, but also Christopher Lee is certainly worth mentioning too. The rest of the cast are given no room at all, which is refreshing because the children’s roles are played nicely and aren’t annoying. The whole thing is “sweetened" by being a kind of ingenious parody on A Space Odyssey. ♫ OST score: 4/5 (19/08/2005)

A breathtaking visual experience. The atmosphere of the entire film is pleasantly "sweet" and the moral messages are not surprisingly intrusive; on the contrary, they need not be restricted to the kids. :) For Burton, for Depp, for Elfman, for the feast for the eyes, and for some really hilarious jokes, 5 stars. (04/05/2009)