CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

US, 2005, 115 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Deep Roy, Liz Smith.
Directed by Tim Burton.

Probably the best thing to start with is saying that here is a film for the holidays, one that parents (and grandparents) can happily take all of the children, except the littlies, to see and enjoy.

It is forty years or more since Roald Dahl wrote what is his best known children’s story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is a tale of Charlie Bucket and his family, a very poor family, who live not very far from the Wonka chocolate factory. Grandpa used to work there but was laid off years earlier when rival sweet-makers stole the recipes and put the Wonka factory out of business. However, even though no worker is seen going in or out of the factory, production is again in full swing (and the opening credits have an intriguing montage of chocolate-making, wrapping and labelling).

Well, most people will know that Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner is giving away five golden tickets for special children to visit his factory. Charlie would love to have one and, as everyone guesses, he does find one.

The film sets up the scenes with the Bucket family very nicely, cosily, even though their meals are meagre (‘cabbage goes best with cabbage), the four grandparents are all crammed and cramped in the one bed and dad loses his job putting tops on tubes of toothpaste. But, the family is very loving and Charlie is a really nice boy.

The other finders of the golden tickets are definitely not nice. We know that they will get their comeuppance (as do the parents who have not educated them well): the greedy boy, the absolutely spoilt girl, the win-at-all-costs girl and the know-it-all boy. The film is definitely serious in reminding us what good children are like and how really awful bad children are.

Once the children begin the factory tour, the screen lightens with bright colours, lots of movement, music and song. The film is continually inventive as it shows Willy Wonka’s creative chocolate-making and the design and machines in his factory. There are also some flashbacks (introduced for the film and not in the book) which explain Willy’s strange mixture of aloofness and being a showman. His dentist father was severe and unloving – and forbade him all those sweets that would decay his teeth!

The film has been directed by Tim Burton who, for twenty years now, has both mesmerised and enchanted audiences with films that are truly fantastic – in both senses of the word. They are really good and they are full of imaginative fantasy. His fans will have their favourites, from Beetlejuice to Ed Wood or Sleepy Hollow. (For me Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish are marvellous stories about storytelling.)

Johnny Depp continues to surprise audiences. He can be an oddball swashbuckling pirate of the Caribbean or he can be the reticent J.M.Barrie in Finding Neverland. He has created Willy Wonka as a lovable eccentric who makes you laugh but takes a long time to really warm to. His Finding Neverland co-star, Freddie Highmore, shows us that an ideal child can be nice without being nauseatingly goody! Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor are Charlie’s parents and, while the film affirms parents, it also offers a great plug for grandparents. David Kelly (who was so entertaining in Waking Ned) is the grandfather who accompanies Charlie on his tour.

Roald Dahl would be pleased with this film. It captures the magical spirit of his imagination. It also captures his vision of goodness, especially for children and family.

1. The popularity and success of the film? For younger audiences? For adults?

2. The work of Roald Dahl, his imagination, his focus on family, the dark side, the optimistic side? The popularity of his work?

3. The films of Tim Burton, highly imaginative, his ways of storytelling, magic, fantasy, the dark side, the moral?

4. The colour photography, the initial muted colour for the credits, for the home? The transition to the factory, Willie Wonka and the brightness of the factory, the special effects? The computer graphics for the Oopah- Loopahs, the flashbacks for the dentist sequences? The film as a kind of visual theme park?

5. The musical score, the songs, the Willie Wonka theme, the song sung by the Oopah-Loopahs? for each of the children, Danny Elfmann’s contemporary score, Dahl’s lyrics about the children?

6. The title, Willie Wonka as the centre?

7. The Bucket family, the narrator’s voice-over, the commentary about the family, their plight, what might happen? The fairytale look of the house, the edge of the contemporary city, the drabness of the city, the blocks of flats, the huge factory? The chimneys? Overshadowing the house? The ordinariness of the town, the mix of American and British? The poor family, the poor meals, the cabbage meals, the four grandparents stuck in the one bed? Dad and his working at the toothpaste factory, putting on the caps? The quality of life? The theme of family? Poor yet generous? Charlie and his birthday, the chocolate bar once a year, his sharing the chocolate with everyone? The hope for the ticket – and everyone watching the ticket winners on television?

8. Mum, plain, loving, caring? Dad and his work, preoccupied, getting the sack? Grandpa and his being genial? The other grandparents, the sardonic comments, the supportive grandma, the grandma who was a bit out of it?

9. The credits, the mixing of the chocolate, wrapping, labelling – and the insertion of the five tickets? The sugar and sweet factory?

10. Grandpa’s story, the success of the factory, Willie Wonka and his inventiveness, the spies, their stealing the secret recipes, the other shops and their success, the shutting of the gates, Willie Wonka closing down? Yet the irony of the more recent success – and no workers going in and out?

11. The winners and their presentation on television, the interviews, the photography? The German boy, fat, gorging chocolate, his genial mother? Veruka and her petulance, demanding everything from her father including the ticket, her weak and exasperated mother, her well-to-do father giving her everything? The American girl, her winning, martial arts and deadly, her record-breaking chewing of gum, her flirtations mother, the satire on the American style? The TV boy, the deadly computer games, the bewildered parents not understanding anything? The blend of bad children, greed, spoilt, determined to win, know-all?

12. Charlie’s birthday, sharing the chocolate, no ticket? Finding the money note, buying the bar, winning, the excitement in the shop, people wanting to buy the ticket, Charlie and his thinking that he ought to sell the ticket to get money for the family? The sardonic grandpa telling him there were only five and that it was precious?

13. The families assembling at the gates, the solemn entry, Willie Wonka’s appearing with them, wanting to watch the spectacle? Entering the factory – and the transformation inside?

14. The visual creation of the factory, the colours, design, processes, machines, different rooms, the lift, the invention? The spectacle of a chocolate factory theme park?

15. The Oopah-Loopahs?, the flashback and Willie Wonka’s explanation, the jungle, the coconuts, their not being able to reach them, Willie Wonka’s deal with them, getting them chocolate, their returning to work in the factory with him? The computer graphics and the single actor being multiplied, for the songs, for the different work, the psychiatrist, the secretary…?

16. The German boy and his greed, Willie Wonka explaining that everything could be eaten, even the grass? The boy drowning? Swirling down the vortex, his mother having to go with him – and his emerging thin and elongated?

17. Veruka, the squirrels, her demanding one? Her wearing a fur? The squirrel attack, her father having to rescue her, their emerging covered in garbage?

18. The dominant girl, her flirtatious mother and Willie Wonka’s ignoring her? Her greed, the blueberry, her turning blue, swelling and bouncing?

19. The know-it-all boy, his wanting to control the equipment, his despising Willie Wonka’s ignorance about technology, going into the television, the parody from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the shower sequence in Psycho, his being reduced to being very small?

20. The tour, its wonders, Charlie and his enjoying it, Grandpa enjoying it, friendly with Willie Wonka and trying to stir memories? Charlie as a pleasant boy, a good boy? His being the winner?

21. The arrival in the lift at the house, Willie Wonka’s proposal that Charlie take over the factory, his having to go and live there, give up his family, Charlie’s firm saying no?

22. Charlie wanting Willie Wonka to reconcile with his father, Willie Wonka’s block about parents, stammering at the word “parents”? The flashbacks to the dentist, his wearing the enormous brace, Halloween and his getting the sweets, his father throwing them away, banishing him, Willie Wonka’s return, his father examining his teeth and recognising him, love for father and son, reconciliation? The dentist and his living in the isolated house?

23. Willie Wonka invited to share the meal, his being at home with the family, his changing his conditions for the ownership of the factory?

24. A satisfying entertainment, moral lesson for children (and for parents!)?