While riding a glass elevator through a flurry of fireworks, a cocky Mike Teavee asks Willy Wonka, "Why is everything in this factory pointless?" A pointed question, one Gene Wilder fans might be itching to ask after sitting through Tim Burton's adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Why revisit what is considered by many the perfect family film? Ironically, young Teavee -- whose two vices are a rabid love of technology and greed -- might provide the inherent answer; Charlie allows both Burton to unveil once again his wild, visual imagination and the studio heads at Warner Brothers to reap the rewards of an assured cash cow.
Finding Neverland stars Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore team up again to play Wonka and Charlie Bucket. Sadly, Depp looks more like an exonerated child molester than Hollywood's sexiest leading man. Upon hearing his annoying girlish giggle you might find yourself praying the glass elevator doesn't have a bedroom button.
Screenwriter John August returns to the pages of Roald Dahl's classic novel to provide one of the few plot deviations from the 1971 film, a Wonka back story. We see a young Willy's sweet tooth put in a stranglehold by his dentist father (played by Count Dooku himself, Christopher Lee). This wrangling of the creative son against an over-bearing father is a common theme of Burton's work, last seen in 2003's Big Fish. Here, Depp proves surprisingly incapable of making the subplot compelling and, after repeated self-conscious flashbacks, it falls flat.
Ultimately, the two things that prevent Charlie from becoming another summer rehashing are Burton's brilliant color palette and the hilarious reinvention of the Oompa Loompas. Wonka's new factory, with its incandescent greens and flaming reds, will ably illuminate any dark theater. As for the Oompa Loompas, who are all played by Burton vet Deep Roy (Big Fish, Planet of the Apes), they break out into new songs, ranging in sound from the Beatles to wicky-what hip hop. Roy's absurd choreography will likely force even the most jaded filmgoer into fits of laughter.
This Charlie might best be left for the video store. Still, it'll be enjoyed most by brave children, aesthetes and the acid trip/bong rip set.
