Film
Bristol Film Festival: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Director
- Tim Burton
- Certificate
- PG
- Running Time
- 115 mins
Some critics set about Johnny Depp’s typically eccentric and enjoyable performance as Willy Wonka with glee, pointing out all manner of supposed similarities to famously innocent child-bedder Michael Jackson. The truth is these are all pretty superficial. Roald Dahl’s source novel was always open to the amusing ‘Wonka as kiddy-fiddler’ interpretation, and would probably not now pass inspection by the obsessive PC Police who detect dodginess in all adult interaction with children.
Such idiocy shouldn’t overshadow Tim Burton’s achievement in delivering eye candy every bit as sweet as the dentist-horrifying lagoons of chocolate and forests of candy trees in Wonka’s fantastic factory. Better still, this perfect match between director and author means that Burton doesn’t allow the story to drown in the spectacle, or betray the darkness, ambiguity and mystery that helped distinguish Charlie . . . from the more hectoring morality tales inflicted upon children. The story – for the benefit of those who need reminding – has irreproachably considerate Charlie (Freddie Highmore, back opposite Depp after Finding Neverland) living on a diet of cabbage soup with his parents and both sets of grandparents in a house of gravity-defying ricketiness. Monty Python’s Four Yorkshiremen have nothing on this family. As one of five lucky children who find golden tickets in their chocolate bars, he’s invited to visit Wonka’s imposing factory, which has been closed to the public for 15 years. Former Wonka employee Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) comes along as his adult companion.
Burton’s new Wonka backstory – which establishes that the confectionary tycoon’s father was a sweet-hating dentist (Christopher Lee) – is arguably unnecessary, but the mildly tweaked and updated methods by which Charlie’s rivals are dispatched are hugely satisfying, underlining the fact that spoilt and revolting children haven’t changed much in 40 years despite the advent of modern parenting techniques. Similarly, the Oompa-Loompas’ gloating songs are now delivered as routines ranging in style from Busby Berkeley to psychedelic rock. Far more faithful to Dahl than Gene Wilder in the 1971 film, Depp’s typically tic-laden Wonka is a vaguely sinister, supernaturally pale misanthrope with a weird and unsettling little laugh, who cannot bring himself to say the word ‘parent’ without retching.
is needed now More than ever
This Bristol Film Festival screening takes place in the Passenger Shed, which will be converted into “the ultimate land of make-believe: a wintery Wonkyland” for the occasion. Go here for more information and tickets.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
