The Virginia Informer

Charlie’s a Morsel of Fun

   UCAB brings Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to campus

By Joe Pirro, Staff Writer

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            Call it what you will, as long as it’s not a remake. Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory thankfully bears little resemblance to the 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. Burton’s film stays true to Roald Dahl’s classic, yet creepy children’s novel.

            Charlie is the story of “the luckiest boy on Earth,” Charlie Bucket, played by Freddie Highmore, with the same sheepish grin from Finding Neverland. Unfortunately, Charlie doesn’t know he’s lucky…yet. The elusive Willy Wonka announces a contest in which five children from all over the world will enter his factory for a day. Even with a strange performance from Johnny Depp, the five children shine in the spotlight. In particular, Annasophia Robb as Violet Beauregarde and Julia Winter as the spoiled Veruca Salt provide fun, memorable roles. Burton uses the chidren and their accompanying parents to parody stereotypes of children. For example, Violet and her mother always wear matching jumpsuits and are a picture-perfect representation of the over-achieving family. Moreover, Mike Teavee is the typical outgoing American boy, who could care less about the factory as long as he’s playing his video games and shouting “Die, die, die!”

            Although Depp’s role of Willy Wonka appears rather strange, he performance is not a disappointment. Depp’s Wonka looks like a person caught between childhood, adulthood, and genders. His personality is even wilder, revealed by his one-liners. With a high-pitched voice, he leads the children and their guardians through his beautiful factory and always has a creepy grin that reveals he knows exactly what’s going on. Depp begins to look more and more like a puppeteer as each child meets their demise.

            The film does slow down a bit at the end, once Charlie leaves the factory. An odd subplot involving the always-eerie Christopher Lee as Wonka’s estranged father takes the pace of the film down a notch and seems a bit out of place, most likely because the concept was created for the film and is absent from the book. When Burton sticks to his true adaptation, though, the film consistently succeeds.

            In the end, some viewers may be unsettled by this creepier version of this childhood classic, but Burton has created a stylish hit. The sets are beautiful, the acting is great, and Danny Elfman has written an amazing score. It may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is enough fun to make you forget any problems that the film may possess and lets you enjoy the crazy world of Willy Wonka at the same time.

            UCAB will be presenting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as their Blockbuster Movie October 14^th and 15^th at 7:00 and 9:30 pm in the UC Commonwealth Auditorium. Cost is $2.00 for students.

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