Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | |
|---|---|
| File:Catcfposter.jpg | |
| Directed by | Tim Burton |
| Written by | Roald Dahl, John August |
| Produced by | Brad Grey, Richard D. Zanuck |
| Starring | Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
Running time | 115 min. |
| Budget | $150 million |
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 film based on the 1964 children's book of the same title by author Roald Dahl (see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). It was directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket. It is the second film adaptation of the children's book, the first being 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket.
Plot overview
Template:Spoilers Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) is a poor boy living with his parents and four grandparents in a tiny, rickety shack in the city. He spends most of his time dreaming about the chocolate that comes from the nearby chocolate factory, owned by the greatest candy maker in the world, Mr. Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Charlie's family is struggling to make ends meet when his father (Noah Taylor) loses his job at the toothpaste factory. Things begin to look up when Willy Wonka announces that he has placed "golden tickets" into five of his candy bars. The finders of these special items will be given a full tour of Wonka’s famous candy factory – the inner workings of which are a tightly kept secret – and a lifetime supply of chocolate.
It happens to be Charlie's birthday next week, the one day each year that he receives a Wonka Bar. Despite nearly impossible odds of winning, he is still disappointed when he finds no golden ticket inside. One by one, news reports from all over the world reveal the children who find the first four tickets, all characterized by a major personality flaw. Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), who used to work at Wonka's factory, gives Charlie a coin to buy another bar. It comes up empty once again, but, on the last day of the contest, Charlie finds a bill of cash with which he buys the last winning chocolate bar.
The next morning Charlie and Grandpa Joe arrive for the tour, led by the strange and eccentric candy man Willy Wonka. During the tour, the first four ticket-winning children, other than Charlie, are tempted by something extraordinary. One by one, each child exhibits a major flaw, causing them and their accompanying parent to be escorted off the tour. Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), a gluttonous overeater, falls into a river of chocolate in the Chocolate Room and is sucked away by a pipe. Competitive gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) hastily chews a defective piece of gum that turns her into a giant blueberry. Spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) demands to steal a squirrel for herself in the Nut Room, where she is attacked by the squirrels and thrown down a chute, deemed a "bad nut". Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), who is obsessed with TV and video games, demands to be the first human transported over television waves, causing him to be shrunken to miniature size. Each of the "accidents" occur after the children refuse instructions against doing something, and each is followed by a song of morality by the Oompa Loompas (Deep Roy), Wonka's little factory workers from Loompaland. By the end of the day, each of the children leave the factory, altered in some way by their wrongdoings.
During the tour, Willy Wonka has three or four flashbacks to his childhood, giving background on his defunct relationship with his dentist father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, played by the "Hammer Horror" actor Christopher Lee. As a child Wonka was denied chocolate and candies by his father because of the potential risk to his teeth. After finally sneaking in a piece of chocolate, he became obsessed, dreaming of being a chocolatier. Despite his father's wishes, Wonka ran away from home to follow his dreams.
After Mike Teavee's departure, Willy Wonka notices that Charlie is the only remaining child. He reveals his desire to hand over the chocolate factory to Charlie, as he is the least rotten of the group. The only catch is that Charlie must abandon his family in order to accept the arrangement, because family members only tell you what to do, and a chocolatier needs complete creative freedom. Charlie's family is the most important thing in his life, even more important than chocolate, and therefore refuses a befuddled Wonka.
Days go by, and the Bucket family is happier than ever. Wonka returns to Charlie, and in an attempt to understand his love of family, requests the boy to join him in confronting his own father. The elder Wonka and son end up reconciling, and in the end Willy Wonka and Charlie begin work together as a candymaking team, with Charlie's house and family relocated to the factory.
Characters
Charlie Bucket is a poor boy living with his parents and four grandparents in a tiny, rickety shack in the city. He spends most of his time dreaming about the chocolate that comes from the nearby chocolate factory, owned by the greatest candy maker in the world.
The best chocolate maker in the world. He closed his factory and sacked all of his workers and replaced them with natives of Loompaland because of spies. He once made an entire made a palace of chocolate in India. He sent out five Golden Tickets and allowed five children to visit the factory in order to find an heir.
Once worked for Wonka but doesn't know a great deal about him, other than that he was a great chocolatier and a genuis whose competitors tried to steal ideas from.
Mike Teavee, a boy who is obsessed with TV and video games, demands to be the first human transported over television waves, causing him to be shrunken to miniature size, and sent to the taffy puller.
Veruca Salt tries to steal a 'nut assessing' squirrel for herself after Willy Wonka refuses to sell one for her to her father . When she tries, she is assessed by the squirrels a 'bad nut' and is then thrown down the garbage chute.
Violet Beauregarde hastily chews a defective piece of gum that turns her into a giant blueberry, and is sent to the juicing room for squeezing.
Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous overeater, falls into a river of chocolate in the Chocolate Room, and is sucked away by a pipe to the fudge room.
Oompas Loompas are Wonka's little factory workers from Loompaland. Loompa Land is an uncharted land full of Snozzwangers, Horn Snolgerlers, and those wicked Whangdoodles, three classes of extremely dangerous creatures. They would eat thousands of Oompa Loompas each year. The Oompa Loompas lived on mashed giant caterpillars and never could work long or hard enough to keep their race fit or alive. They had a horrible life in Loompa Land until Willy Wonka arrived. Loompa Land is rumoured to be 'south of Armenia and bordering the Caspian Sea', which is in Iran. A more accepted theory is that it is in an unknown part of the Amazon Rainforest.
Production
According to those involved with the creation of the film, the main vision behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was for the film to be a closely adapted and slightly modernized version of the original 1964 children's book by Roald Dahl, and not a remake of the original 1971 musical film version, titled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
For a comparison between the book and two films, please see differences between the book and film versions.
The production team of Brad Grey and Richard D. Zanuck found imaginative director Tim Burton to be the ideal choice for the film. After agreeing to direct, Burton hired Big Fish screenwriter John August, who, interestingly, had read the book as a child, but never viewed the 1971 film. Burton recommended that August complete his first draft of the screenplay before viewing it. [1].
Casting and setting
Several actors were considered for the role of Willy Wonka, including rumours of shock rocker Marilyn Manson as the eccentric candy man. Once Burton was part of the project, he immediately chose friend Johnny Depp, who had previously starred in Burton's films Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, and the soon-to-be-released Corpse Bride, to fill Wonka's shoes. Depp agreed, and also convinced Burton to hire young Finding Neverland co-star Freddie Highmore as the new Charlie Bucket.
The entire film was shot at Pinewood Studios, just outside of London, the same studios that most of the James Bond films were shot. Filming began on June 15, 2004. Burton preferred to avoid using computer-generated imagery, instead building actual full-size sets, created by production designer Alex McDowell.
Reception
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released in the United States and Canada on July 15, 2005. In its opening weekend it earned US $55.4 million at the North American box office, and received mostly positive reviews, with an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes [2], a website service that summarizes the nation's top print and online film critics.Template:Inote
However, there were critics who complained that Depp's interpretation of Willy Wonka was disturbingly like Michael Jackson and the addition of the backstory of his troubled childhood was not keeping with the spirit of Dahl's novel.
Cast
| Role | Actor |
|---|---|
| Willy Wonka | Johnny Depp Blair Dunlop (child version) |
| Charlie Bucket | Freddie Highmore |
| Grandpa Joe | David Kelly |
| Mrs. Bucket | Helena Bonham Carter |
| Mr. Bucket | Noah Taylor |
| Mrs. Beauregarde | Missi Pyle |
| Mr. Salt | James Fox |
| Oompa Loompas | Deep Roy |
| Dr. Wonka | Christopher Lee |
| Mr. Teavee | Adam Godley |
| Mrs. Gloop | Franziska Troegner |
| Violet Beauregarde | Annasophia Robb |
| Veruca Salt | Julia Winter |
| Mike Teavee | Jordan Fry |
| Augustus Gloop | Philip Wiegratz |
Music
The original music score was written and performed by Danny Elfman, whose collaborations with director Tim Burton include the films Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, Big Fish, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Corpse Bride. The lyrics to the Oompa Loompa songs are straight from the original book, and are thus credited as written by Roald Dahl.
The original motion picture soundtrack was released on July 12, 2005 on Warner Home Video Records. The songs in the order that they appear in the film are:
- "Wonka's Welcome Song" The Welcome Puppets (Vocals Performed by Danny Elfman)
- "Augustus Gloop" The Oompa Loompas (Vocals Performed by Danny Elfman featuring The Alleyns School Brass Ensemble)
- "Violet Beauregarde" The Oompa Loompas (Vocals Performed by Danny Elfman)
- "Veruca Salt" The Oompa Loompas (Vocals Performed by Danny Elfman)
- "Mike Teavee" The Oompa Loompas (Vocals Performed by Danny Elfman)
Criticism
- Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 film, initially opposed this version, stating it "is all about money. It's just some people sitting around thinking 'How can we make some more money?' Why else would you remake Willy Wonka?" [3] Johnny Depp responded by saying "We didn't remake Willy Wonka, we remade Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's based on the same book they based theirs on. Making a statement that they only made this film because of the money is a really odd statement to make from a guy who has been in the business as long as he has ... all movies were made because somebody somewhere wanted a return on their dollar that they spent." [4] However, since the film's release, Wilder has supported Depp, stating "If I were going to cast the movie, I would cast Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka because I think he is wonderful. Mysterious - always - and magical."[5].
- Some film reviews have noted the resemblance of Depp's performance to pop star Michael Jackson and actor Sam Rockwell. Depp denied any resemblance to Jackson. Burton commented, "Here's the deal: Michael Jackson likes children, Willy Wonka can't stand them. To me, that's a big difference in the whole persona, y'know?"Template:Inote
- Some independent media, internet bloggers and message boards have offered criticisms of racism, colonialism, slavery and group stereotyping similar to those received by the original 1964 children's book, in which the Oompa-Loompas were described as dark-skinned pygmies from the African jungle.[6][7] [8]
Trivia
- Deep Roy played every Oompa Loompa himself, repeating the same movements several hundred times. While these were then put together digitally, each Oompa Loompa represents a separate performance by Roy.
- The Oompa Loompa whom Wonka orders to take Violet to the Juicing Room had appearently tested the gum and turned into a blueberry, as his face was blue.
- Of the 110,000 candy bars made, only 1,850 were real. The rest were made of plastic. They were prepared by the Nestle corporation for the movie.
- 40 squirrels were trained from birth for six months to crack nuts for Veruca Salt's Nut Room scene. It took 10 weeks to shoot the nut-cracking sequence.
- There are buttons in the glass elevator marked Crusty Cream Puff, Television Room, Brain Aches, Clotted Cream Room, Fizzy Lifting Drinks, Fudge Fallout Shower, Incompetent Fools, Mechanical Clouds, Orange Egg Flip, Root Beer Goggles, Scratch and Sniff Room, Cocoa Cats, Black Box of Frogs, Brussel Sprout Ice Cream, Cheese and Anchovies, Dodgy Accents, Eight Till Latte Room, Rubber Forest, Large Cavity, Nice Plums, Pastry Room, Heart Shaped Lungs, Projection Room, Secretarial Poodles, T-Bone Steak Jell-O, Stars in their Pies, Up And Out, and Fragile Egos.
- Willy Wonka's father, played by Christopher Lee, did not appear in Roald Dahl's novel. The character was written specifically for the movie to give Wonka some family history.
- Danny Elfman's opening music is reminiscent of his theme to Mars Attacks!.
- The name of the toothpaste at the toothpaste factory where Charlie's father works is called "Smilex". The same name of Joker's poison in Batman.
See also
- Differences between the book and film versions
- Wikiquote article for Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
External links
- Official website
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at IMDb
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film page on the Tim Burton Collective fan site
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Online - Fan Site
- Roger Ebert Review
- Film Soundtrack
References
- August, John. 'Did I ever watch the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?', johnaugust.com (2004). Retrieved July 19 2005.
- Jury, Louise. 'Wonka unwrapped', Belfast Telegraph (July 13 2005). Retrieved July 19 2005.
- Slotek, Jim. 'Johnny Depp perception', London Free Press (London, Ontario) July 19 2005)
- Associated Press, 'An Interview with Johnny Depp' (July 7 2005). Retrieved July 19 2005.