Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, based on the book by Roald Dahl - Nine out of 10

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, based on the book by Roald Dahl

Nine out of 10

The Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team has enchanted audiences with quite a few splendid works and we could just think of Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood as examples, both reviewed at realini.blogspot.ro

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory benefit from the same creativity, outré genius and the evident understanding between original director and unusual film star.

Johnny Depp seems to enjoy himself – perhaps sharing some or most of the traits of his character –in the role of Willy Wonka, the strange owner of the Wonka chocolate factory, the man who lays off his entire workforce at one time, including Grandpa Joe, and instead enrolls a different type of worker, importer all the way from some obscure region in Africa.

The rich capitalist has had a troubled childhood, wherein his dentist father would impose his exaggerated diet on the son who had to suffer in what looks like a very uncomfortable, potentially painful apparatus and absolutely avoid sweets, which the parent would condemn as disastrous for the teeth – well, he is right and besides, they are responsible for the epidemic of obesity, but he is nevertheless abusive in eliminating ALL sugary pleasures.

Forced to abstain from eating any candy, Wonka Junior wants to have a factory making them, perhaps understandably, but his dentist father forbids it and thus the son runs away from home and then would become the extremely successful owner of the worldwide famous Wonka Chocolate Factory.

The rich chocolate maker decides to launch a limited series of golden tickets, which would win for the lucky children that find them in their chocolate wrapper a tour of the factory, in the company of one of their parents and guided by the strange Wonka.

One of the winners is Veruca Salt, a spoiled child that may well represent what the future holds for humanity – given that more and more parents adopt the strategy of allowing their offspring to do whatever they like, without limits rules or any restrictions – whose father is so rich that he has the workforce in his factory stop their usual tasks and start opening the multitude of chocolates that he had bought in abundance, so that he can win the ticket for his daughter, whose wish is his command.

Veruca is the epitome of Hedonic Adaptation, a psychology term that defines what happens when we get material things – we adapt to a new car, dress, suit…anything and thus we remain satisfied only for a very short while.

The wealthy father has bought her everything she has ever wanted, many pets, a pony, but when she would see trained squirrels in the Wonka Chocolate Factory, she decides she wants one – after all, that is part of her bad education, she knows no better – and even after the owner and guide informs her that she cannot have one, Veruca does not comply, goes out of the barricade and when she challenges the surreal animals, she would be overwhelmed by them and land in the garbage dump…the unsympathetic Willy states that the squirrels have found a bad nut…a head with nothing inside.

Maybe the only positive main personage of the story is little Charlie Bucket, an honest, brave child, who lives in destitution with his family and when pressed, he would rather give up extravagant prospects, extreme richness, for the love of those close to him and in consequence, he exposes the opposite principle to the Hedonic Adaptation:

Researchers have tried to find what the Happiest people have in common and the results are in: it is not wealth that the happiest share, but Close ties and bonds with family and friends and Charlie is spot on when he is sure that being with his parents and grandparents would make him happier than winning the big lottery prize, albeit he does not do it for bliss, he makes the choice prompted by love.

The film is a comedy, but there are scenes where we can see it as a horror movie, although not one of the gruesome ones, where blood and guts spill all over the screen, walls and protagonists, but the transformation of one of the children into a giant blueberry appears amusing, but at the same time it could be troubling, if somewhat educational, for the girl had been instructed to avoid eating the chewing gum but she disregards the restriction…again, this is what happens when rules are despised…William Golding said in an interview about his Magnus opus, Lord of the Flies, that

‘When you have no rules, you have nothing’

If not one of the best motion pictures that we can see, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is nonetheless a very entertaining and considering the aforementioned lessons in psychology, hedonism, secrets of happiness, the effects of excess and other aspects, it is also rather educational, if children of this age watch it and understand that there are some limits to what they can get from parents and others, the resources of the planet and even those of the Wonka Paradise are limited and sometimes even sweets and the most appealing adventures have consequences and unappealing side effects.