Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory runs 115 minutes and carries the tagline “Prepare for a taste of adventure.” The 2005 musical fantasy stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket, and it is the first musical Burton has directed. It holds a 72/100 on Metacritic.
Trailer, via Warner Bros. Rewind.
The 007 Stage and the Chocolate River
Burton shot the film from June to December 2004 at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. He built Wonka’s Chocolate Room on the 007 Stage, complete with a faux chocolate waterfall and river.
The book leans on texture, and Burton answered with practical effects and constructed sets instead of computer-generated environments. The factory has weight and grain.
John August wrote the script from Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel. Charlie lives in poverty near the Wonka Factory. Wonka closed the gates after industrial espionage cost every employee their job, including Charlie’s Grandpa Joe, played by David Kelly. Charlie’s father, Noah Taylor’s Mr. Bucket, has been laid off from a toothpaste factory and hides it from his son. Then Wonka announces the Golden Ticket contest: five bars worldwide, a full tour, a lifetime supply of chocolate, and one extra prize at the end.
Five Tickets, Four Flaws
The first four tickets are found by Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teavee — gluttony, spoiling, arrogance and ill temper.
Charlie fails twice, finds a banknote, buys a third bar, and discovers the real ticket inside the wrapper just as the Russian ticket is revealed to be a forgery. He nearly trades it for money, gets a pep talk from Grandpa George, and keeps it.
| Ticket | Finder |
|---|---|
| Ticket 1 | Augustus Gloop |
| Ticket 2 | Veruca Salt |
| Ticket 3 | Violet Beauregarde |
| Ticket 4 | Mike Teavee |
| Ticket 5 | Charlie Bucket |
The casting history is the strangest part of this production. Before Burton signed on, Warner Bros. discussed Wonka with Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Robin Williams, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Adam Sandler, among many others. Michael Jackson actively sought the role and recorded an original soundtrack in Los Angeles. The studio didn’t want him as the lead but “went nuts” over the songs and offered to buy them for a small role elsewhere. Jackson shelved them.
Depp was the only actor Burton considered for the role. Dwayne Johnson was his second choice in case Depp was unavailable. Depp wanted a Wonka nothing like Gene Wilder’s 1971 version. He and Burton drew from children’s TV hosts — Bob Keeshan of Captain Kangaroo, Fred Rogers, Al Lewis of The Uncle Al Show — plus game show hosts. Christopher Lee plays Dr. Wonka. Deep Roy plays every Oompa Loompa.
The practical craft is the reason to watch this one. The built factory, the squirrel room, the river you can almost smell — that is where the money went and where it shows. The Jackson story is a genuine oddity, and it is well documented, but it is a footnote to a film that stands or falls on Depp’s performance. On that, the Metacritic number says what it says: respectable, not rapturous.
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