Herb Kane
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Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Two-Disc Deluxe Edition
Studio: Warner Brothers
Year: 2005
Rated: PG
Film Length: 115 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Enhanced Widescreen
Audio: DD 5.1 EX
Color/B&W: Color
Languages: English, French & Spanish
Subtitles: English, French & Spanish
MSRP: $30.97
Package: Two discs/Hinged Keepcase
The Feature:
Tim Burton's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is the second film adaptation of the children's book, the first being 1971's Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart, starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket. Unlike its predecessor, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is named more appropriately as the film is mostly about -- Charlie. Young Charlie Bucket is so plucky and likable, and comes from such an eccentric and marvelous household, that the wonders inside the chocolate factory are no more amusing than everyday life at the Bucket residence.
Charlie Bucket (played by 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 (played by Johnny Depp). Charlie's family is struggling to make ends meet when his father (played by Noah Taylor) loses his job at the local 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 (played by 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 money 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 (played by 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 (played by Annasophia Robb) hastily chews a defective piece of gum that turns her into a giant blueberry. Spoiled Veruca Salt (played by 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".
The last little charmer is Mike Teavee (played by 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 (played entirely by 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 flashbacks to his childhood (a back-story not in the original book). These give background on his non-existent relationship with his dentist father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, (played by Christopher Lee). As a child, Wonka was denied chocolate and candy 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”. However, Charlie's family is the most important thing in his life, even more important than chocolate, and Charlie is soon faced with the biggest decision of his life...
The film is also available in a single disc format (which includes two of the special features) in both fullscreen and widescreen formats and lists for $28.98.
The Feature: 3/5
:star::star::star:
Video:
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is the latest in a long list of new Warner Home Video releases with a near flawless presentation. Presented in a 1.85:1 enhanced widescreen transfer, this surreal looking film looks more real than you might expect. The transfer is gorgeous, and does a superb job at reproducing the theatrical experience - at least my theatrical experience. What stood out for this reviewer was the remarkable crispness and level of detail displayed in this transfer. Beyond the obvious facial detail, the eclectic sets and other bizarre looking visuals exhibited a terrific amount of detail. Very impressive indeed. Color reproduction was excellent, and this does a fine job at highlighting the drab outside world that Charlie occupies, contrasted nicely by the candy-like colored world of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory - looking lush and vibrant. Blacks were deep and rich and whites are crisp. Contrast was excellent.
The level of dimensionality and texture was both, outstanding and impressive, although there was virtually no film grain to speak of. As we would expect from such a recent release, the print is free of any dust and dirt or other distracting blemishes. The authoring seems to have been handled perfectly as there was no evidence of compression errors or edge enhancement etc.
Excellent!
Video: 4.5/5
:star::star::star::star:
Audio:
The film is represented with a very nice Dolby Digital 5.1 EX encoded soundtrack. While the disc is not quite on par with, say, the recent Batman Begins track, it does a fine job and has a fair amount of heft to it. Dialogue was always clear, bold and intelligible. There is a satisfactorily wide and pleasing soundstage with a dynamic range that is equally impressive.
The track is immaculate and free of any noise or hiss. There is a healthy deployment of surround usage with various directional effects as well as music ambiance. Speaking of which, the music is robust and full of life. The score was written and performed by Danny Elfman, whose collaborations with director Tim Burton include nearly a dozen films. The lyrics to the Oompa Loompa songs are straight from the original book, and are thus, credited to Roald Dahl. Elfman performed the vocals for the songs. You'll notice some LFE sporadically however, it doesn't dominate the track.
Audio: 4/5
:star::star::star::star:
Special Features:
The Deluxe Edition is comprised of two discs and the second disc has been reserved for the majority of the special features. The disc commences with a trailer for Tim Burton's, Corpse Bride. Meanwhile, the set looks like this:
Disc One:
[*] The lone feature on the first disc is the Theatrical Trailer which is in perfect shape. Duration: 2:26 minutes.
Disc Two:
Disc two is divided into two sections; "Features" and "Activities". The "Features" section contains the following supplements:
[*] Attack Of The Squirrels is a featurette which contains a number of clips and behind the scenes footage and interviews. Tim Burton also appears as well as a number of other cast & crew members including animal trainer Michael Alexander, supervising prop modeler Oliver Hodge, visual effects supervisor Nick Davis, animatronics and prosthetics creative supervisor Neal Scanlan, and actor Julia Winter as they discuss the obstacles and the training necessary for the squirrel sequence. Duration: 9:48 minutes.
[*] Fantastic Mr. Dahl is the set's most substantive feature which includes comments from Valerie Eaton-Griffith and Amanda Conquy, friend Brough Girling, literary agent Murray Pollinger, granddaughter Sophie Dahl, widow Felicity Dahl, illustrator Quentin Blake, publishers Liz Attenborough and Stephen Roxburgh, grandson Luke Kelly, daughters Ophelia and Tessa Dahl, doctor Sir David Wetherall, and son Theo Dahl. Also included are archival notes from Roald Dahl. The feature is pretty adept at offering a look into the life of the author offering some insights and various experiences which influenced his book. Duration: 17:41 minutes.
[*] Becoming Oompa-Loompa contains comments from Tim Burton and actor Deep Roy and chronicles the various characters portrayed entirely by Roy. Duration: 7:17 minutes.
[*] Making The Mix contains five separate featurettes. They are:
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Chocolate Dreams which takes a look at Burton’s adaptation of the story including the various differences of his version. (6:56)
- Different Faces, Different Flavors is a short featurette which deals with the casting of the film. (10:38)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Sweet Sounds as we might expect, features the movie’s Oompa-Loompa songs and includes Danny Elfman who discusses his work on the project. (7:16)
- Designer Chocolate is a feature which takes a close look at the visuals, particularly the set design for the film. (9:36)
- And finally, Under the Wrapper is the last supplement under this banner and deals with the various special effects that were employed throughout the film. (6:57)
The "Activities" section looks like this:
[*] Oompa-Loompa Dance is a rather fluffy piece offering instruction should one desire to partake in an Oompa-Loompa dance... if you do, there are two options; Learn & Play.
[*] Tha Bad Nut is a game which runs through three rounds that progressively increase in speed and difficulty. The kids may enjoy this one.
[*] The Inventing Machine is an odd feature requiring you to mix two ingredients which then shows an Oompa-Loompa’s reaction to the taste test. Very fluffy - but fun fluff, I suppose.
[*] Search For The Golden Ticket is the second of two games to appear on the disc. Again, I can't imagine anyone other than kids appreciating such an inclusion.
[*] And finally you'll find a DVD-ROM feature which I didn't get into.
I've long typed my explanation below describing my quality vs. quantity concept. This set is a perfect example. While there are some informative tidbits to be gleaned in the first half of the supplements, they are far too brief to sink your teeth into. One can't help but feel they're present because they need to be. The second half? Forget it, unless your kids are so inclined.
Special Features: 2.5/5
:star::star:
**Special Features rated for the quality of supplements, not the quantity**
Final Thoughts:
While a number of movie critics, criticized Burton's Freudian back-story for Wonka as being both unnecessary and out of the spirit of Roald's Dahl's original novel from 1964, the film still seemed to strike a cord with moviegoers earlier in the year. Interestingly, many film reviews have noted the resemblance of Depp's creepy performance to pop star Michael Jackson - a connection that no doubt, would be an unwelcomed one - in any way, shape or form. How do I feel about the film? Well, the jury is still out. I have mixed feelings about it and to be fair, I have mixed feelings about the original version as well. There's no doubt that Burton's version offers an interesting spin on what we've become familiar with compared to the 1971 version.
The story will be familiar to much of the audience, either from the book or from the earlier film adaptation, and this familiarity has perhaps allowed Burton to concentrate on the differential of visual fantasy; the very quality that sets its apart from that of its predecessor.
While there's no shortage of supplements, there's not much here in terms of substance. You’ll find very little to sink your teeth into. More importantly though, the presentation is outstanding on both fronts. That said, if you are a fan of the film or of Tim Burton, there's no reason to skip this new release, however, you might want to save yourself a few bucks and stick with the single disc version.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5 (not an average)
:star::star::star:
Release Date: November 8th, 2005
