FanUnity B(uzz)log

A few years ago, Tim Burton endeavored to remake the sci-fi classic "Planet Of The Apes." Burton deconstructed the original film and rebuilt it in his unique style. Burton's "Apes" only reflected the original film in a few aspects: the premise of an astronaut landing on an Earth-like planet controlled by chimps and an ending involving a familar landmark revealed in a shocking way. Burton's movie didn't feel anything like the original, and while it had many of the same trappings, it lost the charm. A similar thing can be said about Burton's "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory", a story which was put to film in the Gene Wilder magical children's classic "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory."

Tim Burton re-imagines the world of Willy Wonka, and unlike his "Apes" effort he keeps many, many of the same elements. He just spins them in a particularly Burton-esque style. The story still follows the good-hearted and humble little boy Charlie, who gets a flash of luck in his hard-knock life by finding a golden ticket that allows him to visit the mysterious and reknowned chocolate factory of the legendary recluse Willy Wonka, along with four rotten kids. Charlie still wins, but the movie dwells less on the process of his winning and more on the psychological creature that is Willy Wonka. In this way, it would almost be more appropriate for the original film to have been called "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" and this one to be called "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory", because the first film was more about Charlie and this one is more about Wonka.

Freddie Highmore plays Charlie, and does a fine job. He's a perfectly likeable young actor, though there's some of the magic missing in his performance that was there with Peter Ostrum in the original. This is not Highmore's fault, and he is very much not alone in this. That's the way the whole film feels. Pretty good, not at all a catastrophe, but still lacking the magic and specialness of the original film. The Oompa Loompas are fun, the rotten kids are funny, Grandpa Joe is a warm and reassuring figure, everything is done pretty well. To Burton's credit, the best part about "Charlie" might be his addition of Christopher Lee's Dr. Wilbur Wonka, Willy's strict and controlling dentist father who would not let him touch candy as a youth, and caused him to wear a giant and embarassing orthodontic scaffold-like helmet on his face and head. All of this is very nice, but it lacks "Willy Wonka"'s magic.

While Johnny Depp is an excellent actor, he is no match Gene Wilder's Wonka. Depp says his creepy-yet-innocent Wonka was not Michael Jackson, but that is impossible to believe. Depp's Wonka is pale-skinned, with an unnatural tone like Jackson. His goofy mannerisms and bizzare child-like behavior channel Jackson, and he even uses one of Jackson's signature adjectives by describing something as "charming." Depp is playing Michael Jackson, and they don't want to admit it because that might be bad PR in a kids' film. But let's just call it what it is. And Michael Jackson-like Wonka is just nothing next to the special half-wizard, half-maniac Wonka that Wilder brought to the screen. Wilder's Wonka is one of the all-time great movie characters, and his performance one of the great performances. So it's not that Depp was bad, per se. He was just on an impossible mission.

Just as the "Star Wars" prequels made you truly appreciate the acting of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in the original "Star Wars" films, "Charlie" serves to make one appreciate the performances in the original films even more. David Kelly makes a nice and lovable Grandpa Joe, but he's nothing compared to Jack Albertson's original Grandpa. Albertson was pure magic.

"Willy Wonka" is a much more fulfilling story stucturally as well. "Willy Wonka" was disciplined about building a dramatic arch around Charlie's journey — the highs and the lows — while "Charlie" takes shortcuts with the Charlie's story because it needs to cram the Dr. Wonka-young Willy plotline into the running time. While those scenes in and of themselves are fun, the shortcuts taken from the primary storyline are really missed. I was stunned to see that Burton cut the scene at the end where Willy Wonka goes into that depressing room, where everything is only half of itself. Half a clock on the wall, Wonka at half of a desk. The scene where Wonka freaks out at Charlie for using the fizzy-lifting drink, and Grandpa Joe screams at Wonka, telling him that they will give the secret everlasting gobstopper to rival candyman Slugworth, but Charlie's innocent heart causes him to give Wonka back his gobstopper even though he's being treated poorly by the man. The scene just isn't there.

"Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" is a much better re-imaging of a classic film than Burton's "Planet Of The Apes." There is no question that Burton learned what he did wrong on "Apes" to a certain extent and tried not to screw this film up in the same way. So the result is not a terrible film, but one that is a queer remix of the original, still fun to watch in someways, still enjoyable to a certain extent, but devoid of the true splendor of the original. When you try to remake one of the few perfect films in the history of film, that's certainly not the worst possible result.

3/5 Stars for "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" (2005)
5/5 Stars for "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory" (1971)
1/5 Stars For "Planet Of The Apes" (remake) (2001)
5/5 Stars For "Planet Of The Apes" (original) (1968)