Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - you know, the one with Gene Wilder - used to play once a year on TV when I was a kid. Only once, and I relished every delicious moment. Oh, the lickable wallpaper, the chocolate river, the delectable fantasy room where each and every thing was sweet and edible. Looking back, I think I may have loved the film as much for its shameless reverence for my love of all things candy as for its cinematic palatability. That candy love carries over into adulthood. I still delight in the entire idea of a world revolving around all things gooey, chocolaty and not at all nutritious. I simply could not stay away from the newest film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s taste-tempting book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

All the familiar story elements flavor this version of the tale. Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) and his family live a bare-bones existence. He, his parents (Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor) and all four of his grandparents have little to eat and only the most meager crumbs of hope for a more savory life. But……….the sour becomes the sweet as Charlie and his grandpa Joe (David Kelly) get the mouth-watering opportunity to tour the grandest place of all, the towering wedding cake of a factory belonging to the nutty, half-baked Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) - the Master Chef of Candy. No one has been inside the factory in years, ever since mealy, greasy industry spies began to steal Wonka’s secrets. But now Wonka is inviting five children to visit for the day, whichever five children find the elusive golden tickets hidden inside his Wonka Bars. Once Charlie finds a ticket, he gets to experience the juiciest, most bittersweet day of his young life – and learns a few unpalatable lessons about his contemporaries along the way.

Tim Burton is the director tapped to film this sugar and spice filled cinematic snack. The most outstanding aspect of his participation in this appetizing adaptation of the story is his scrumptious visuals. From the opening credits with row after row of smooth and creamy chocolate streaming by, we get treat after visual treat. The house that Charlie lives in is the film equivalent of a fallen soufflé – tilting precariously and looking rather more wobbly than should be strictly possible for brick and mortar. Once we get into the factory, more tasty bits of artistry await. My favorite room filled with edible everything is just as luscious as ever, with edible grass, trees, even the chocolate river. All have a distinctly Burton-esque flare, with lots of whirly licorice whip shapes and off kilter angles. My only complaint is that there isn’t more time spent luxuriating in this room of gustatory delights. Not because it would improve the movie – I just like it in there. We also get our first glimpse of Wonka’s staff, the Oompa Loompas, in this room (the flashback to his first meeting with them in Loompaland is a fun sidelight). They are tiny, and all played by Deep Roy – a clever use of technological advances since the first film. Their outfits are less bland, more fruit colored and exotic, their skin color more skin colored and less tangerine colored than in the first film. This room is a tantalizing and tangy appetizer for the rest of the movie. Other outstanding effects include the boat trip down the chocolate river and the glass elevator whizzing around the factory.

The performances in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are as tasty as the visual artistry. Johnny Depp is a different, slightly more blanched and a little more bitter Willy Wonka than was Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. His make-up is wonderful, with his extra-large, extra-white teeth belying his dental past. As usual, Depp makes the most of the role, playing Wonka as more child-like, less sadistic and more clueless than his predecessor. He doesn’t like these children (or any of the adults, really), finding them all rather distasteful, but it’s apparently because he is socially undercooked – he doesn’t know how to deal with anybody, least of all these small people who insist on putting their every thought into often peppery, unappetizing words. His facial expressions as he tries to balance his distaste with his role as tour guide are delicious, he’s at turns confused, repulsed and aggravated. As are we. These are repugnant children, for the most part. Spoiled, violent, rancid little urchins are these characters, and each actor plays his or her part acceptably. Not outstandingly, but acceptably for the morsels of story morals they offer. The least effective of the lot is Julia Winter as Veruca Salt. She’s vile, but not quite vile enough. The best supporting performance by far is that of Missi Pyle as ultra-competitive Violet’s mother. With her caramelized perma-tan and her butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth perma-smile, she exudes all the joy of sucking a lemon. And it’s wonderful! She’s the uber-mom we can all gleefully hate.

The one exception to the “just acceptable” children generalization is Highmore as Charlie. His sweet, home-cooked attitude offsets the others moldy selfishness beautifully. He has a nicely seasoned relationship with Depp, having starred with him in Finding Neverland, so the two play well off each other. David Kelly as Grandpa Joe is fun – looking a bit like a wizened prune, he bears a striking resemblance to the chess player in the Pixar cartoon at the beginning of Toy Story.

There are some parts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that turned out to be a wee bit bitter. Wonka does some flashing back to his tragic, unsweetened past in this tale, and each segue into one of these flashbacks is decidedly awkward. Looking like he just ate a rotten egg laced with LSD, Wonka’s glazed eyes and vacant expression just don’t fit into any of the scenes into which they’re placed. In fact the entire storyline involving his anti-candy (blasphemy!) dentist father feels as tacked on as chewing gum under a theater seat. The sight of young Willy with his mouth full of braces is interesting in an Edward Scissorhands kind of way, and Christopher Lee (as the father) is always fun to watch – but the subplot is distinctly reminiscent of last year’s Halloween candy – stale and best left unconsumed.

Overall, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a delicious stew of appetizing visuals, a saucy and tart performance by Depp and a bittersweet telling of the original tale. Despite one slightly inedible sub-plot, the film as a whole is a sugary, spicy, slightly warped and wicked wonderland. The humor inherent in the not-so-tolerant and oh-so-eccentric Wonka will please parents and the bounty of candy coated mischief will please the kids. It isn’t terribly scary, but you might want to consider whether a child younger than seven or eight will really enjoy it – they may just get bored. Burton could have disappointed me in a big way in combining my beloved Willy Wonka from childhood and my beloved Johnny Depp from adulthood, but he’s done just the opposite. I ate up every last bite, not even saving room for dessert.


Recommended:
Yes