Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2005
Tim Burton (director), John August (screenplay), Roald Dahl (story)
Starring Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly
I'm really not so hung up on the old film version with Gene Wilder, and I was looking forward to this new version. It was deeply disappointing.
Yes, a lot of the visuals were great, I certainly liked Charlie and Grandpa Joe (all of the Bucket family was good, actually), and I do like Johnny Depp as an actor in general. But this movie just really didn't work for me either, and it wasn't just the characterization of Deep Roy's computer-replicated Oompa Loompa overtly embodying and reinforcing the imperialistic colonialism/industrialization paradigm rather than drawing attention to or questioning it.
Although that was pretty fucking uncomfortable, too.
First of all, the backstory. Seriously, what the fuck? It was utterly unnecessary, it was forced, it made no sense within the context of the rest of the story, and it was untrue to the entire concept of who and what Willy Wonka is.
They then stretched that to the point of the grotesque with Depp's actual portrayal. He was just...childish. Regressive. A creepy Wonka, I don't mind. Effeminate, I certainly don't mind (and we all know Depp is super hawt in eyeliner). But a drugged-out eight-year-old with daddy issues? With gross flat teeth? Just couldn't hack it. It just ended up feeling like a vehicle for Depp to be Crazy and Weird and Look At Me I'm Just So Out There and Amazing Whoa Me.
Wonka is a trickster figure, on the side of chaos and joy and mischief and, ultimately, justice, with karmic punishment meted out to those who deserve it and fantastic rewards granted to those who win his favor. Like all tricksters, he is neither truly good nor truly malevolent, and his lack of empathy sets him apart from ordinary human characters.
Unlike the rest of us, he doesn't have a reason to be the way he is. He doesn't need one.
IMDB: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
