Hey folks, Harry here with the slugworthian Chicago sneak... Capone and his infiltration of the CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY test screening that was held there in his domain. He seems to love a great deal of the movie, and loathes the Danny Elfman songs. I have to say, I'll have to just see for myself. As a long term addict of Elfman's songs - from his days with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo - through OINGO BOINGO and NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS... I'm dying to hear his songs on this project. And I do remember back when the criticism that I heard about NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS was folks disliking his songs... and they were WRONG! So, I have to hope Capone is simply... WRONG about Elfman's songs... cuz as for the rest of CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY -- it seems he really loved it. Here ya go...
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here. About a week ago, my plan was to scoop the world by offering up the very first review of Tim Burton's take on Roald Dahl's beloved story "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." As you've probably heard by now there were a pair of test screenings in Chicago last Saturday (an earlier show for people with kids, and a later one for grown folk). As convinced as I was that I'd be recognized and escorted from the theatre, in fact, I got in with no trouble at all. Once inside the theatre, I immediately spotted the marketing folks combing the audience for "ideal" candidates for the post-film focus group. No big surprise that I wasn't selected, but I was a little disappointed when I found out that Burton would be sitting in on the discussions. If he was there, I never saw him.
My plan that evening was to race home after the relatively early (6:30 pm) screening was over, write the review, and start packing for a trip I was taking the next morning. I knew if I didn't do the write-up before the trip, I wouldn't get to it for a while and would risk being scooped, which is exactly what happened. I swear it wasn't laziness that stopped me from writing; it was mixed feeling about various aspects of the movie. It occurred to me on the drive home that I needed to hash this one out for a couple days before really dove in. So I scribbled down a few notes about certain scenes I liked and disliked, my initial thoughts on performances and finished effects (there were noticeable unfinished effects in a couple places), and my reaction to the decidedly different tone of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. As I read the few reviews that trickled in from my screening, I realized doing so did very little to ease over the rough patches in my mind concerning this movie. Let me just talk for a while.
It goes without saying that this is not exactly the finished version of this movie. In addition to the aforementioned unfinished CGI shots (in particular the opening credits sequences showing the production process that a Wonka Bar goes through, which I'm dying to see completed), the score was temporary (I caught bits of other Danny Elfman scores throughout), and I'm sure that cuts will be made to perfect the beats in the comic timing. But as it stands today, this work-in-progress is pretty great. Try as I may to put the Gene Wilder version of this story--WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY--out of my mind, it's impossible. There are some sequences that are almost identical between the two versions. Certainly many of the casting decisions (especially in the case of the children) seemed inspired by the previous version. In recalling the film today, the moments I loved the most in the update were those that strayed from the original film. Wonka's backstory is priceless; the sole sequence showing Wonka's discovery of the Oompa-Loompa tribe is too funny for words. The way at least one of the children is "dealt with" is radically different, and I think much better. And of course the ending has been altered to be closer to what I remember the book's tone. It's been 100 years since I've read it, so I don't feel safe compared film to book.
Let me simply start from the beginning. Meeting the family of Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore, last seen opposite Johnny Depp as Peter in FINDING NEVERLAND) is always such a treat. They are the poorest of the poor, and the set design for there slanted, crumbling home deserves an award. You don't so much walk through the front door; you walk under and around it. You have to see it to understand. The timeframe of this film is a little in question, and that's okay. The Buckets seem to live in Dickensian times, whereas the rest of the world seems modern. The clearest sign of that is the introduction of ticket winner Mike Teavee, who seems to excel at all things with a monitor, including video games. But I liked the wacky sense of time-space displacement. Wonka (Depp) himself wears clothes that could be from any point in modern history, but more on that later. Charlie's loving parents (Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor) and sweet grandparents (including the unstoppable David Kelly as Grandpa Joe) are all still crammed into one room with a giant bed in the middle of everything.
In these early scenes, we learn that Grandpa Joe once worked with Wonka in his early years when his candy offerings were made in a smallish shop. Joe went on to work for Wonka when he moved his operation to the big factory in the middle of this fictional London, but when industrial spies kept stealing Wonka's secrete formulas, Wonka kicked all his employees out and shut down the factory for a time. When it reopened weeks later, people had no idea who was running the complex (but we do). Most of the film's build-up to the five children arriving the factory gates with their escorts is what we're used to. Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz) is still a fat German kid constantly stuffing his face with candy. Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) is still a short-tempered little shit, but here he actually presents himself as Wonka's most formidable foe. He's constantly questioning the science of Wonka's ideas, and I'm pretty sure he's the only one that notices that the Oompa-Loompas' songs seem pre-written, which might indicated premeditation on Wonka's part.
Veruca Sale (Julia Winter) is still the boss of the world, especially her father played by the esteemed James Fox. The only noticeable difference in the children's personality is with Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb, the lead in BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE), who is portrayed as a purple sweatsuit-wearing girl who must win at everything she does. She flirts a little with Wonka, makes alliances with the children she thinks will help her move forward to win the ultimate prize at the end of the plant tour. Then she throws them under the bus when it comes time for her to move forward. She's probably the most dangerous of the bunch, but if you know the story, you know she's dealt with early on. Burton seems to emphasize more in this version the obvious possibility that Wonka has planned the outcome of his grand contest long before it even began, and that makes Depp's performance all the more devious.
So what about Depp as Willy Wonka? Has the guy ever disappointed us when he's gotten the chance to create an original character (or in this case, put his unique spin on an established character)? Of course not. ANd in this fourth pairing with Burton (the fifth being the upcoming CORPSE BRIDE), I'm not quite sure I can explain his take on Wonka, but here it goes. The jet black hair, pasty white skin, and dandy-boy clothes screamed Michael Jackson to me. I'm talking strictly the look here; don't read anything into that statement. In terms of performance, Depp appears to have selected sociopath. Wonka has become so isolated from the world outside his factory, he's lost his perspective. As we learn from the flashbacks to Wonka's childhood, his father was overbearing dentist Wilbur Wonka (Christopher Lee, who should officially be the fifth head on Mt. Rushmore), who never let Willy eat candy as it might damage his torture-device dental headgear. The young Wonka decided early to live a life defying everything his father taught him, including how to behave around or relate to regular people.
One thing that shocked me about Burton's take on Wonka is that my life-long believe that he really didn't like children may have been wrong. According to this film, his aversion is to families (for obvious reasons). Wonka can't even spit out the word "parents." Attempts to do so almost result in vomiting. Unlike the previous film, when Charlie wins the contest and is offered ownership of the factory, Wonka assumes that Charlie will simply leave his family to do so and is astonished when that doesn't happen. Of course, Wonka still shows a tremendous amount of glee when a child is in danger. He practically bites his own tongue off trying not to laugh when one of his traps is sprung. When the children first enter the factory, they are greeted by an "It's A Small World"-like display with plastic children twirling about while the notorious (from the trailer) "Willy Wonka" theme song is played. It's a sad display capped off with a mini-pyrotechnics display that results in the plastic children catching on fire and melting. This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the film. (I laughed the hardest during the sequence when the glass elevator passes by the "Plastic Children Burn Unit." "That's new," says Wonka. I think five people in my audience got the joke.) Wonka's giant, white teeth don't exactly improve his image. In a weird way, if you really consider it, one could make a case that Wonka's candy business was founded for the sole purpose of rotting teeth around the world. I wouldn't have believed Gene Wilder's Wonka capable of such things, but Depp's Wonka? You bet. Wonka frequently drifts off during times of crisis, he laughs when people are in trouble, and he buries his childhood fears and resentment so deep that he seems ready to explode at any moment.
So far everything I've told you are things I loved about this dazzling movie. I was a bit surprised that the look of the chocolate waterfall/river set was so similar to that of the original film, but there were enough unique touches that I grew not to mind so much. Plus, it's during this sequence that we meet the new and improved Oompa-Loompas, all of which are played by a little person actor named Deep Roy; this guy is my new hero. I remember Roy in his small role in BIG FISH, but I was astonished to see his filmography, which begins in 1976 when he played an assassin in THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN and continues through RETURN OF THE JEDI, Ron Howard's GRINCH, and Burton's PLANET OF THE APES. His expression never changes, although his outfits always do. In some scenes, there are dozens of him dancing in an elaborately choreographed numbers.
Unfortunately, my biggest problem with CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY corresponds to when Deep Roy is on the screen: the musical numbers. Gone are the tuneful songs sung by Charlie, Grandpa Joe, and Wonka, which is fine. I knew this wasn't a musical. What we are left with are the songs of childhood indiscretions sung by the Oompa-Loompas. I was excited to hear that Danny Elfman would have the opportunity to revisit his alt-pop roots, but these songs are terrible. Rather than the mantra-like chant of the old Oompa-Loompa songs, each song here is done in a different musical style. Some are more funky, some of rock-out numbers, but across the board, they all suck. And to top it off, the words are incredibly hard to hear. This may have been the fault of this being a work in progress, but I don't think so. And short of simply ripping the songs out of the film (which doesn't seem likely), there's really no way to fix this problem. The songs aren't clever, amusing, or thought-provoking, and they bring everything to a screeching halt. Watching Depp bob in time with the music, as if to imply that the songs are catchy almost made me think that maybe the songs were supposed to be annoying (to annoy his guests), but I don't think so. It wouldn't be the most ridiculous idea to find a clever way to display the words to the songs during these scenes, but that doesn't really solve the problem.
The real reason I didn't attempt a review of CHARLIE immediately after seeing it was that I needed to decide if the bad songs were a deal-breaker. I needed to wait a week to see if the sound those god-awful tunes drowned out the joy I had during the rest of the film. I realize that I haven't talked much about sets and effects (at least the finished ones), and that's because I want to leave something for your first viewing of the film. Much like certain story elements, some of the sets seems remarkably similar to the first filmed version's, while other differ wildly. Perhaps my favorite sequence involves Veruca's downfall. It's completely different than the original film's treatment of the events and involves a roomful of squirrels. It's great. The trip down the chocolate river is much more like a theme park ride, and I'm not sure that's any better or worse, but it looks cool. And I liked Burton and screenwriter John (BIG FISH) August's decision to show us the ultimate fates of the four other children.
Am I recommending CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY? You bet. There's so much here to love, especially if you have a deep, dark streak running right through the middle of your heart. All of the performances are exactly right, and even Depp's deeply disturbed take on Willy Wonka can't be dismissed because it works so well. Do I have reservations along with my recommendations? Yes again, and they're hard to ignore. Will the bad songs sink the ship? I don't think so, they just keep this film from being a new classic. It's the difference between good and great. Who knows, you may think I'm being too hard on Mr. Elfman, but somehow I doubt it. Hey, you remake a classic story like this, you run the risk of this degree of scrutiny. But when the DVD drops on my doorstep, you can expect me to skip over the tunes.
Capone
If you have something sweet to slap against my tongue, tell me about it here!
