Movie Review

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 Charlie and the chocolate factory is the second adaptation of the 1964 British book of the same title written by Ronald Dahl. The movie was showed in different theaters all over the world in year 2005 and directed by Tim Burton. I was able to watch the movie twice, first when I was in grade school and recently that was about 2 weeks ago. The movie was so amazing and of course unrealistic. There flow of the story was good but the first scenes of        Willy Wonka’s flash back unclear for me because I find it a little bit confusing. The flashback was triggered one of the characters and Willy was like remembering someone who is quite different from his appearance that why it was a little bit unclear if the boy was him or someone who used to be closed to him. Maybe that mysterious or ambiguous part is essential for the movie to have that surprising element or at some point it adds to the viewers curiosity and I admit I became more curious because of that part. Especially in considering the viewers were kids, sometimes flashback leads to confusion.  In addition to that, the accent sometimes bothers the viewers.  When I first watched the movie, I remember having hard time to understand the character’s dialogue. Well it was really expected for Filipino kids who’s not used to movies having that British accent.

In contrast with those confusions, the movie was really great. It awakens every child dreams of fantasy and chocolate craving. The graphics and the visual effects were really great. The props were huge and it’s really caught the attention of any kid and kids at heart. As a viewer I’m not fond of films with too many visual effects and that’s where Charlie and the chocolate factory won my heart. The film was not really into special effects but the graphics were really good. I was able to research about the film and based on interviews and write-ups about it, the film minimized the use of too much special effects because they want the young actors to feel that as if they were working in a realistic environment.

When it comes to the actors, they really gave justice n portraying the characters.  They have great acting skills that can draw out the viewers from reality. Personally, I love Johnny Depp’s manner of handling his character. I love the mysterious type and clumsiness of Willy Wonka. At first I felt afraid of him because he was like acting so weird as if he was planning something bad for the kids. Freddie highmore as Charlie was so suited for the character because of his face that looks so ignorant and sweet and the rest of the characters were really great and contributed a lot to the story. The film has a good script that gave a good flow for the story. The actors, the screen writer and the filmmaker have good teamwork to produce a great film like this one. Based on write-ups, the director with his whole team made this film really close to the book version. They made this film to be every child’s imagination.

To sum it up, I believe that the core of every film lies of the values embedded with it. Charlie and chocolate factory left a room for everyone to think about our attitude, our ways, and our personality. The second time that I watched the film was translated in Filipino language and there was a line that I can’t forget, “Ang maiiwan ay siyang hindi bulok ang pagkatao.” by Willy Wonka. The film remind us that no matter how difficult life is, there is no greater possession than you family. Love, acceptance and forgiveness are the keys to the real happiness.