Movie Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) 

Directed by Tim Burton

Written by John August

Starring Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Christopher Lee

Release Date July 15th, 2005 

Published July 15th, 2005 

Streaming on HBO Max

The first time Roald Dahl's childhood dreamscape Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was brought to the big screen, under the title Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the film became a beloved children's classic based on the gentle whimsy of Gene Wilder's cyanide-laced wit as Willy. However, writer Roald Dahl was never a fan of this adaptation.

The legendary writer passed on before another adaptation could be taken up. According to his wife Liccy, the latest adaptation, with the original book title, by director Tim Burton, is a version that Mr. Dahl himself would have embraced. We will never know for sure. What we do know is that Mr. Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a visionary and astonishing work of art from the set design to the music and the amazing work of one of our finest actors, Johnny Depp.

Willy Wonka's (Johnny Depp) chocolate factory in the center of London has been a source of mystery and wonder ever since Wonka fired all of his employees some years ago and shuttered the factory. When one day it reopened without hiring any new employees the mystery deepened. Now finally after years of being a shut in, Wonka has decided to allow five children to visit his factory. By finding a golden ticket inside a Wonka chocolate bar, five kids will have the adventure of a lifetime inside the legendary candy factory.

One of the children who prays for the opportunity to go to the factory is one Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore). Charlie lives in a ramshackle flat with an unintentional skylight above his bed. His bedridden grandparents (David Kelly, Liz Smith, David Morris, and Eileen Essell) take up most of the living room and we are never quite sure where Charlie's mom and dad (Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor) sleep. Still the family is quite chipper given the circumstances.

Charlie, however, seems the least likely child to get the chance to capture a golden ticket. Charlie gets one chocolate bar a year on his birthday, essentially a one in a million chance. Things look especially hopeless after the first four tickets are discovered across the globe by over-privileged little brats who buy in bulk or crack the system for the chance at a ticket.

There is Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), a terribly spoiled little girl whose father (James Fox) gets her whatever she demands no matter what the price. Violet Beauregard (Annasophia Robb) is a vainglorious little brat whose mother also buys in bulk to get her daughter a ticket, despite the fact that neither actually eats chocolate. Augustus Gloop (Philip Weirgatz) is a plump little German boy who stumbled on his ticket only after taking a bite out of it. Finally we have a venal, little twit named Mike Teavee who discovers his ticket via the internet and his hacking abilities, one of many subtle updates of the source material.

Well of course Charlie Bucket does get his golden ticket and he and his Grandpa Joe (Kelly) are off to the mysterious factory where Joe once worked when it had employees. Inside is a magical world of wondrous candied delights. Mr. Wonka is a bit of a nutball-- an effete dilettante who, despite his child friendly products and his invitation to children to visit, doesn't seem to like children at all.

As the tour commences, the strange surroundings evolve into even stranger situations as one child after another falls victim to their excesses, each child disappearing with a Greek chorus of Wonka's new employees playing them off. These oddball new workers who have helped Willy restore the factory are Oompa Loompas, a tribe of identical individuals all played by the astonishingly deadpan actor Deep Roy.

The child actors are very well cast, especially young Freddie Highmore as Charlie. Highmore caught Mr. Depp's eye as one of the child cast of his Finding Neverland. Highmore was Oscar-worthy as the youngest of the children that inspired the writing of the children's classic Peter Pan in Finding Neverland. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, his bright, crooked smile and boundless enthusiasm is the perfect complement to Depp's weirdness and the loving and beautiful performance of David Kelly as Grandpa Joe.

Then there is the ethereal Deep Roy as all of the Oompa Loompas. A wonderful change from the creepy looking green elves of the 1971 film, Roy has a detached air that seems perfectly at home in the weird universe of Willy Wonka. The curious little song and dance routines of the Oompa Loompas that somehow match perfectly with the actions of what just occurred to their child subjects in the story are wildly entertaining and yet just a little creepy. Oscar nominated composer Danny Elfman wrote and sings each of the songs but it is Roy's dry, deadpan dance numbers that raise the music to hilarious comic levels.

Director Tim Burton disappointed slightly with his melodramatic fantasy Big Fish, but returns to artistic form with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a visual masterpiece like nothing Burton has ever created. It seems that having a good story to start with allowed Burton to focus all of his energies on creating a brand new universe for this well known story. His accomplishment is breathtaking in every detail and production designer Alex McDowell can begin prepping his acceptance speech.

Never having read Mr. Dahl's book I cannot speak to the faithfulness of Mr. Burton's film, though as I said earlier, Mr. Dahl's wife, Liccy, who is credited as producer on the film, claims he would have been pleased. We do know that Mr. Burton and screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Go) did add one subplot that may become an essential part of the Wonka lore.

Burton and August create a backstory for Willy Wonka, a glimpse of his childhood and what led a seemingly normal kid to build a strange and very unique candy paradise. The backstory includes a stellar cameo by the legendary Christopher Lee and deepens the character of Willy Wonka, taking us beyond his simple weirdness.

The essential element of making the character of Willy Wonka work is not on the page. Johnny Depp, in a performance that is as winning as his Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean, creates a Willy Wonka that is earnest, deeply sincere and a little disturbed, but also quite savvy. His reasons for finally opening the factory to visitors are reasonable and intelligent with just a hint of overreaction. He has a sharp wit combined with the defensiveness of a small child. It is a multi-layered and wonderfully crafted performance.

While many critics lazily point out things they believe are inspired by the weirdness of Michael Jackson, a more active viewer will sense something far more original and brilliant. Completely at odds with the glib wittiness of Gene Wilder's take on the character, Mr. Depp takes the character in a direction that has more connection to his own Edward Scissorhands than with MJ or Mr. Wilder.

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is a joy for children of all ages. Even diehard fans of 1971's Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory will not be able to deny the wonderful artistry of this re-imagining. There is talk of Burton adapting the Charlie sequel Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator. I'm normally not one to encourage a sequel but if it can be promised to be as brilliant as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I will line up for my golden ticket right now.

Movie Review: Aladdin (2019)

Aladdin (2019) 

Directed by Guy Ritchie 

Written by John August, Guy Ritchie

Starring Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Nasim Pedrad 

Release Date May 24th, 2019

Published May 23rd, 2019

As Disney continues their mercenary, commerce over art, traipse through bringing their animated classics to CGI life, we find ourselves at Aladdin, the movie Robin Williams made famous, now without Robin Williams. Now, in fairness, Will Smith is taking on the role of the Genie that Williams made into an animated classic and Will Smith is a movie God, but he’s still not Robin Williams in terms of his style of performance. 

What set Aladdin the cartoon apart was the manic, over the top, non-stop energy of Robin Williams. Williams’ remarkably fast paced riffing and pop references may appear a tad dated, Jack Nicholson impressions aren’t exactly in vogue anymore, his manic energy and lovable, charming innocence, made that character and that movie more than the sum of its rather average parts. For a moment, imagine Aladdin without Robin Williams? Sappy loves and bland romance with no flavor and a great deal less fun. 

Will Smith is not that kind of performer. Smith is charming and charismatic and he can be goofy when it’s called for, but the Will Smith brand hasn’t been goofy and charming in some time now. When Will Smith grew up and left behind childish performances as in the original Men in Black and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, he developed a more serious and stolid persona. He didn’t become completely un-fun but movies like 7 Pounds, I Am Legend and Suicide Squad are not exactly laugh riots. Not since Men in Black 3 in 2012 has Will sought to make audiences laugh and he hasn’t played straight comedy since 2005’s Hitch. 

That raises the question: Is Will Smith funny in Aladdin? Yes and no. Yes, in that in a couple scenes in the strong second act of Aladdin, Will Smith gets a couple of chuckles. Is Smith the laugh riot that Williams was in the animated Aladdin? Not by a long shot. Smith’s introductory gags, immediately following meeting Aladdin and introducing himself as The Genie, are a little cringe-inducing, rather of the Dad Joke variety. He’s certainly amused with himself but we in the audience are, for the most part, politely smiling while waiting for something funny. 

It occurs to me now that I am 5 paragraphs into a review of Aladdin and all I have done is talk about Will Smith and the faltering comparison to Robin Williams. The reason for that is, if Will Smith is, as I mentioned earlier, the best thing about Aladdin, you can imagine, there isn’t much more to say about the rest of Aladdin. Weak songs, a bland leading man performance from Mena Massoud and some odd direction from Guy Ritchie are all that’s left and I don’t dislike Aladdin enough to linger on those flaws. 

If you are somehow not aware of the plot of Aladdin, the story goes that Aladdin is plucked off the streets by the evil Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) to enter the cave of wonders. Because Aladdin has a true heart he is allowed to enter, along with his monkey, Abu, and he retrieves the lamp which he proceeds to rub. Out of the lamp pops Genie Will Smith, wishes are made, the heart of Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) is won and all is well with the world. 

The plot is the same as the animated feature only flattened out to a too long 2 hours and 6 minutes. The extra time is dedicated to extra musical numbers, including one brand new original song from composer Alan Menken, Speechless, sung by Naomi Scott. Speechless is a fine song in and of itself, a power pop ballad about female empowerment. That said, the placement within the film is wonky and off-putting. The song is shoehorned into a fantasy sequence with all the finesse of a sledgehammer. 

I’m being unkind again, let’s talk positives. Once Aladdin makes his wish to be a Prince and becomes Prince Ali of Ababwa, the movie manages to find a new gear. Smith switches from the buff, big, blue genie to his more familiar persona and digs into a belter of a reimagining of the centerpiece tune “Prince Ali.” Smith isn’t much of a singer but the song is smartly paced and it slows to give Smith the chance to rap rather than being forced to try and sing. 

From there is a charming party scene where even Mena Massoud’s Aladdin finds a little life, thanks to a little bit of Bollywood musical magic, and for a time you think that Aladdin might just work out. That momentum dies as we turn to the third act and the films flavorless villain, Jafar, takes far too much of the center stage. Marwan Kenzari isn’t bad but this is not a great, memorable villain. The plot pushes hard but Jafar is more wet blanket than super-villain. His defeat isn’t nearly as satisfying here as it was in the animated feature which is surprising considering they are virtually identical. 

I’m coming off like I really dislike Aladdin and I don’t. It’s… it’s… fine. It’s okay. I don’t mind Aladdin. I am resigned to the notion that Disney is going to, without a care for art or originality, continue to pump out live action rehashes of their animated classics because well known I.P is more important than art. The marketing department at Disney may as well start getting producer credits these days as they seem to be the ones making the decisions. 

But that is the cry of the artist in a medium of capitalists. It’s not fair to condemn a business for attempting to make money. That said, I don’t have to enjoy it or endorse it, I just have to tolerate it and hope for the best. The best, in the case of Aladdin, is a genuinely charming second act and a not terrible performance by Will Smith. It’s not much but we have to find our pleasures where we can in the mercenary world of Disney remakes. 

Movie Review: Big Fish

Big Fish (2003) 

Directed by Tim Burton 

Written by John August 

Starring Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Steve Buscemi, Alison Lohman, Marion Cotillard, Danny Devito 

Release Date December 10th, 2003 

Published December 9th, 2003 

Tim Burton is a grand storyteller with a painter’s eye for color and depth. His films are often beautifully rendered and smartly written, a very rare combination. When his talent is fully engaged, as it was on his masterpieces Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow, he is an auteur that ranks with the all time greats. 

However, there are occasions when Burton seems less than engaged with his material, such as in his blockbuster works Planet Of The Apes and Batman Returns. His latest effort, Big Fish, looks like his kind of material but has moments when Burton doesn't feel fully committed to what is onscreen.

Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney portray Edward Bloom at two very different times in the man’s life. McGregor is the upstart Edward having grand adventures on his way to being something big. Finney's Edward is an old man on his deathbed, endless recalling the exploits of his young self.  Edward's son Will (Billy Crudup) has heard all of his father’s wild tales over and over again since he was a child. Now as his father's life is coming to an end, Will longs to know the truth. Instead, all he gets are more wild stories.

These dream sequences of young Edward Bloom are the kind of wild fantasies that Burton feels perfectly at home in. These stories include a real life giant played by Matthew McGrory, a circus with an eccentric ringleader (Danny Devito) and a city lost in time where there are no streets, just grass, and no one wears shoes. All of the stories are told with a magical veneer and there is slight sheen over the picture in these scenes that add to the dream imagery.

The central story to the flashbacks is Edward's romance with his wife Sandra, played by Alison Lohman and Jessica Lange. The romance is sweet, sincere and lovingly old fashioned and easily the film’s strongest subplot. What surrounds that story however, is somewhat unsatisfying.  We in the audience are like Edward's son, looking for a little bit of the real Edward Bloom. Listening to Albert Finney wheeze through a flashback setup, its not hard to see why Will is so exasperated with his father.

For his part Tim Burton isn't all that invested in his non-flashback scenes, preferring to put his artistic focus on the fantasy elements of the film. He seems to treat the other stuff as filler that give the flashbacks just enough context to get by. This makes for half of a very satisfying film.

The dreamlike fantasy flashbacks are artfully crafted fantasy, eye candy, humor and beauty. Unfortunately the other scenes, the non-fantasy scenes, are unsatisfying melodrama and good deal of screen chewing by Albert Finney. Billy Crudup does his best to ground these scenes, doing so well that he darn near saves the film with a terrific scene that takes place in a hospital room. It's a touching scene but not enough for me to give Big Fish a full recommendation. It’s not bad but this is not Burton at his best.

Movie Review Charlie's Angels Full Throttle

Charlie's Angels Full Throttle (2003) 

Directed by McG 

Written by John August 

Starring Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Demi Moore, Bill Murray 

Release Date June 27th, 2003 

Published June 26th, 2003 

The first Charlie’s Angels film delighted in the kind of mindless, plotless humor that made the Austin Powers movies so much fun. Or at least the first Austin Powers movie. As the sequels in that series show, it's difficult to maintain that atmosphere. The humor relies so much on the outlandishness of the setup that you’re forced to top yourself from one gag to the next. For the Charlie’s Angels crew, that means skimpier outfits and racier humor that pushes the boundaries of it's mandated PG-13 rating. Thanks to a cast that has earned a great deal of audience goodwill, they manage to succeed this time, but one more will be really pushing it.

We all remember the flashy sex kittens from the original, Alex (Lucy Liu), Natalie (Cameron Diaz) and Dylan (Drew Barrymore). No need for reintroduction, the film jumps right into the action as the girls save a federal marshal from a group of Mongolian terrorists, with the cunning use of special effects and Cameron Diaz's ebullient sexuality.

From there it's back to the states where Charlie (the disembodied voice of John Forsythe) explains what we need to know in order to give the film’s gags a minimal amount of context. Some mess about the federal witness protection program and the list of people in protection. A bad guy has the list and is trying to sell it and it's up the Angels to stop them and retrieve the list.

During the investigation it's revealed that Dylan is on the list for having testified against an Irish mobster named Seamus O'Grady (Justin Theroux), who conveniently enough has just been released from prison. Oh but he's not the big bad guy. As the girls quickly figure out the real bad guy is a former Angel named Madison Lee (Demi Moore). Why she stole the list and blah blah blah is not necessary. How hot she looks in a bikini, now that is what this movie is really about.

Moore's role is actually rather limited in screentime, not much more than a cameo save for the big fight scene at the end. There are numerous cameos throughout the film that at times it's like an episode of the Love Boat. Matt LeBlanc reprises his cameo from the first film, as does Luke Wilson. John Cleese drops in as does Robert Patrick and even Demi's ex husband Bruce Willis. There is also a small role Shia Leboef from Holes, pop singer Pink and even the Olson Twins. Sadly, the film failed to get the cameo that really would have set tongues a wagging, Demi's current boy toy Ashton Kutcher.

Bernie Mac has a slightly bigger than a cameo role as the new Bosley, taking over for Bill Murray. Who cares how or why he has the role, Mac is welcome presence because he's just damn funny in every scene he's in.

Reigning over all this is Director McG, whose skills as a music video director were very much on display in the first film and they are far more pronounced in this sequel. McG is maturing quickly from video director to pop artist. His visuals are pure eye candy and his actors merely props to decorate his painting. McG skillfully maneuvers his actors through a series of eyepopping scenes, both titillating and action packed.

McG is to be commended for his amazing ability to skirt the censors who somehow were convinced to give this film a PG-13 rating. McG walks the line between obvious Russ Meyer style exploitation and acceptable humorous double entendre, like a skilled tightrope walker. The stars of the film and their director seem to say it's okay to exploit their sexuality, such as a scene where the Angels go undercover in a strip club, as long as the girls are in on the joke. What woman could resist having their butt worshipped the way McG seems to worship the butt's of his leads? All shot as lovingly as one might film the Mona Lisa.

Getting away with this type of envelope pushing for another sequel is highly unlikely. Unless the ratings board says PG-13 means the girls can strip naked and kill bad guys at the same time, the filmmakers will have a hard time finding anything more safely titillating than what they concocted in Full Throttle.

Movie Review: The Nines

The Nines (2007) 

Directed by John August 

Written by John August 

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, Elle Fanning 

Release Date August 31st, 2007

Published November 14th, 2007 

Gary (Ryan Reynolds) is an actor on a big time cop show and he has just hit rock bottom. After his girlfriend left him he decided to burn all of her things in the back yard. He ended up burning down his house. While the house burned Gary hit the streets and bought some crack and shared it with a prostitute in a fleabag hotel. When the cops caught up to him he was on the phone with 911 operators asking why he didn't have a belly button. This being Hollywood however, Gary's criminal meltdown was more like a minor PR problem. Sentenced to 30 days of home arrest, Gary's publicist Margaret (Melissa McCarthy) has set him up in the house of a friend of hers, a writer, out of town writing a pilot.

Soon Gary strikes up a friendship with his next door neighbor, Sarah (Hope Davis), a bored housewife and fan of Gary's. She listens to his odd ramblings about the house being haunted and eventually she even seems to believe him and offers evidence of a conspiracy to confine him to the haunted house. Is she just as crazy as Gary or is there more going on? Meanwhile, there is the writer whose house Gary is borrowing. His name is Gavin, also played by Reynolds, and he has just signed on for a reality TV show that documents the behind the scenes happenings on the new show he hopes to put on the fall schedule. 

The show stars Melissa McCarthy as a mother to an oddly prescient, mute child played by Elle Fanning. Gavin's liason at the network is Susan (Hope Davis). Is this an alternate reality? It must be if Gary is Gavin and Margaret is Melissa and so on but then how is the actor aware of the writers reality as if it were happening at the same time and how does Gavin know that some actor was staying in his home while he was gone.

It gets weirder folks as one more reality emerges, that of the characters on Gavin's TV show where Gabriel is the husband of Mary, McCarthy's character. This time Sara/Susan is Sierra some force of evil who attempts to lead Gabriel away from his family. Or is the real dimension and what Sierra tells Gabriel about humans and his real self are true? Bizarre, cryptic and oddly fashioned, The Nines never plays out as you think it might and that is what makes it so fascinating. Unpredictable in the strangest ways, this film from writer-director John August, who wrote the multi-narrative feature Go for director Doug Liman, is a serious mind-fuck that will keep you guessing throughout.

Ryan Reynolds is better known as a comic actor but when he wants to he can bring it dramatically. He definitely brings it in The Nines delivering three distinct and captivating characters. Melissa McCarthy has the unique challenge of playing herself for a segment and brings the challenges of a working actress in Hollywood to light in just the briefest of roles. She is less interesting in the other two realities but effective enough to maintain the film's strange charms. As for Hope Davis, you keep waiting to get more from her and she recedes. There is no doubt that this is Ryan Reynolds' vehicle but a little more for Davis and The Nines could go from recommendable to must see.

As it is The Nines is a strangely fascinating sci fi trip. Ryan Reynolds is one of the more engaging young actors working today and he proves it with not one but three excellent performances in The Nines.