 Movie Review:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Production Company: Warner Brothers Pictures
Director: Tim Burton
Principals: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly
Rating: PG (unusual situations and mild language)
By Gregg Tubbs
(UMCom) – When paired with the right material and cast, no current director can offer such a purely delightful, cock-eyed, downright giddy ride as Tim Burton. For his latest, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, all the right elements have aligned. Roald Dahl’s delightfully demented 1964 children’s classic – about a brilliant and reclusive chocolatier and the children who win a once-in-a-lifetime tour of his phantasmagorical chocolate factory – provides just the right framework on which Burton can hang his most dazzling and witty ideas. The result is a lot like a carnival funhouse: a tasty blend of giggles and gasps, silliness and sleight of hand. But at its heart is simply a lot of heart.
Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) discovers the final golden ticket. Copyright © 2005 Warner Bros. Pictures |
Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), a sweet-natured English boy, and the entire Bucket clan of parents and grandparents live together in a rundown shack. In the whimsical Tim Burton world, the Bucket house literally leans at a precarious angle, as if a hard sneeze could bring it down. Poor but happy, the Buckets live on love, because there’s certainly little nourishment in the cabbage soup they share with touching gratitude each night.
Each year, Charlie receives a special birthday treat – a single Wonka chocolate bar – an indulgence too expensive to enjoy but once a year. This year, that bar includes something particularly special, an invitation to meet the fabulous Wonka himself! Willy Wonka, who years ago banished all employees from his factory as suspected thieves of his secret recipes, has wrapped five golden tickets within five Wonka bars, each allowing a special child a rare tour of his mysterious factory, conducted by the eccentric Wonka himself!
The reclusive Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) welcomes the contest winners to his chocolate factory. Copyright © 2005 Warner Bros. Pictures |
The chocolate bars are scattered across the globe, but for Charlie, the golden ticket has personal appeal. The chocolate factory looms at the top of the hill, just above the Bucket home, and Charlie’s Grandpa Joe, a former Wonka employee, has enthralled him for years with tales of the delightful world of candy behind the factory gates. Tantalizing mysteries abound. How has Wonka continued to produce the world’s greatest chocolate without employees? Why, after all these years, has the mythical chocolate tycoon decided to open the factory doors, and what is the special reward the golden tickets say will go to one special child?
As the mysterious Willy Wonka, Johnny Depp turns in a wonderfully loopy performance as a man-child who, after years living in his isolated factory, is so detached from society that he seems almost an alien merely visiting this planet. When he meets the five lucky children and their parents, he awkwardly reads his greeting from cue cards. And what a sight these children are. With the exception of the sweet and virtuous Charlie, each is a horrid example of a particular vice – greed, selfishness, gluttony and sheer mean-spiritedness. Here the story takes on the tone of an old-time fairy tale, and it’s no surprise that each of these unpleasant children will get their “just desserts” during the tour. They are never really harmed, but certainly chastised for their wickedness.
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| Deep Roy portrays all of the Oompa-Loompas. Copyright © 2005 Warner Bros. Pictures |
Charlie, at its center, is a great, almost Old Testament-style morality tale, where the wicked are punished and the pure of heart are rewarded. Jesus said that “The meek shall inherit the earth.” But as his reward, the meek Charlie Bucket inherits Wonka’s chocolate factory!
On a deeper level, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about more than just reaping what we sow. It is a testament to the sustaining love of family. Although Charlie lives in a crooked shack, where there’s barely enough money or food to get by, he is surrounded by people he loves and who love him. Wonka, who lives in splendor in his fantastic factory-mansion on the hill, lacks for nothing, except the one thing that would make him truly happy: a family like Charlie’s. It is a delicious irony that the only thing poor Charlie has is the one thing the reclusive millionaire needs. This gives the film a truly heartwarming resolution when Charlie joins Wonka at the factory as heir apparent of the candy empire. Wonka, in turn, joins the Buckets at their humble but loving dinner table each night. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a family’s love is as sweet as candy, as rich as chocolate and lasts longer than a stick of Wonka’s “everlasting gum.” In short, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a treat that’s good for the soul!
Gregg Tubbs is a freelance writer living in Columbia, Md.
This review was developed by UMC.org, the official online ministry of The United Methodist Church.
Study Questions
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Had you ever read the original book Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or seen the earlier film based on it? How did this film compare?
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Did you like the way this film focused on Charlie’s family? Would you describe the Buckets as happy? How did they compare to the other children’s families, such as the family of Veruca Salt, the spoiled rich girl?
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How would you describe each of the four other children who got golden tickets?
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Do you feel they “got what they deserved,” or was the story too harsh?
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Charlie refused to abandon his family at first. Why? What does this film value higher: love or riches?
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Did you suspect the film would end the way it did? Why would the Buckets choose to stay in their old house, even if it was relocated to the chocolate factory?
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Was there a sense of biblical justice in this story?
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Do you think Charlie and Wonka were brought together by chance? What other events seemed more than coincidental?
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Was Charlie’s reward justified by his virtue? What scenes revealed Charlie’s character to be good?
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What is the central message of the film?
Golden Tickets: Willy Wonka inserts golden tickets in Wonka Bars. In this activity, you can do the same but, instead of Golden Tickets, insert golden wisdom from the Bible. Give a candy bar – the kind you can open and close again with tape – to each member of your group. Write Bible verses on slips of paper (golden-colored paper if available) and place them in the candy bar to rewrap. Hand out the bars and take turns reading your golden messages. Once you are done, you can enjoy your candy. Select verses that relate to gold, gluttony, greed or other subjects that relate to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Suggestions:
Group Activities
Oopa-Loompas and Trained Squirrels: In the film, Willy Wonka used special helpers to work together on special tasks. The Oompa-Loompas combined industriousness and a great love of chocolate to do the bulk of the work, while trained squirrels used their own natural skills to cleanly shell nuts. Try this activity that requires teamwork, skill and speed. Divide your group into pairs. One in the pair is to be the Oompa-Loompa and rely on speed and hustle. The other is to be the squirrel. Get a deck of cards and a stopwatch. The Oompa-Loompa is to place the deck of cards on top of their head and, while balancing the deck on their head, cross the longest room available to the waiting squirrel. If they drop the cards, they must start over. Once they get to the squirrel, the squirrel is to open the deck of cards and quickly find all four aces. The fastest team wins. Once you are done, read I Corinthians 12:1-11 to learn how Paul described different gifts in the service of Christ.
A Great Treasure: Charlie wants to sell his Golden Ticket to help his poor family, which is a selfless and noble act. But his family convinces him that it represents a one-of-a-kind opportunity – in other words, a great treasure. As a group, read Matthew 13:44-46 and discuss what Jesus meant in this parable about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a great treasure.
Resources
Official Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Web site
Theatrical Trailer
Windows Media
QuickTime
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