Thursday, September 01, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a classic tale from the devious mind of children's writer Raoul Dahl. His character Willy Wonka was a curious creation indeed, a man devoted to making the most beloved confectionery of all, chocolate, but who had a sinister side that separated him from the rest of the world. The trippy technicolour adaptation of the early '70s has become a beloved cult classic for generations of anklebiters and acidheads alike.
In the story, Charlie is a pathetically poor boy living in a crumbling cottage in the shadow of a chocolate factory, getting by on nothing more than cabbage soup and his fantasy of one day visiting the citadel on the hill. His chance comes when he wins a golden ticket which gives him and only a handful of hopeful children entree into the wonderful world of Willy Wonka.
The child characters have become almost as famous as Wonka himself. Names like Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop have become shorthand for infantile excess, be it horrid selfishness or unabated gluttony. The film is essentially a morality tale for young children as to the perils of poor behaviour, but for adults it's more, perhaps fiendish revenge on all the aggressively annoying children one is forced to endure because of lax parents who have become all too used to their antics.
Few directors are as adept at bringing this kind of macabre material to the screen as Tim Burton. Burton is at his best when given a tight narrative structure to work within, as with that other children's story turned upside down, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This film benefits from a strict framework around which the director can weave his splendid vision. In Batman, Planet of the Apes and Mars Attacks he floundered, stumbling over his own visual invention to make far less satisfying experiences.
But this may well be his best and he owes a great deal to the contribution of his star and frequent muse Johnny Depp. Depp portrays Wonka as childlike himself and barely mature for all his brilliance. Much has been made of his similarity to another softly spoken, ashen-faced, long-haired recluse with a complicated relationship with children and his own childhood, but as yet Michael Jackson hasn't sued. In fact, the peculiar performance has more in common with another he made in a Tim Burton film, Ed Wood, with whom Wonka shares a wild-eyed wonder and indefatigable enthusiasm.
The whole film is incredibly well cast. The child actors are all uncannily close to type. Charlie's family is played by Australian Noah Taylor and Helena Bonham-Carter and some of England's most beloved older character actors. As for the infamous army of Oompah Loompahs, they are computer-generated to great effect from a single actor.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is, like its predecessors, an instant classic, a dark chocolate delight that manages to move you as easily as it disturbs.
By Kerry Bashford
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