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The chocolate factory has been a mystery to the community ever since Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp),
its eccentric and reclusive owner, fired all his employees when he discovered that they had been stealing and selling his secret recipes. No one has entered its huge gates but the
candies continue to be produced. One night, Wonka's mystery workers post bulletins all over town, announcing that five golden tickets inside five chocolate bars will be won by
five children who will win a day's tour of the mysterious candy factory. Four bratty children win the first four tickets; the fifth goes to Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) who
comes from a family so poor that all they can give him for his birthday is a Willy Wonka chocolate bar, in the hope that the boy may find the last ticket in it and realize his
dream of touring the enigmatic candy-making compound. But this birthday gift is not the winning bar…
The set is a magnificent example of imagination put to good use. The candy factory is 100 percent
eye candy—and more. Everything in it is edible sweets, from the grass to the water fall that's of chocolate instead of water. Highmore gives credibility and flesh to the role of
the docile and good-hearted Charlie, providing a strong contrast to the four other obnoxious children. Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor also give fine performances as
Charlie's mom and dad. Actor Deep Roy, digitized into hundreds, plays all the Oompa-Loompa workers—knee-high creatures captured and bred by Wonka to work in his factory. The
Oompa-Loompas show interesting choreography and give the best touch of whimsy to the movie, delighting especially the youngest viewers.
This is one rare instance when CINEMA practically urges its audience to view a film. But
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
deserves it. It overflows with good values: familial love, generosity, humility, modesty, unselfishness, loyalty, monogamy and fidelity. Charlie's family—seven in all, his parents, his paternal grandparents and his maternal grandparents, plus himself—are held together by love through thick and thin. They are poor, but nobody complains even if all they're having for dinner is cabbage soup (again). There is a subtle—but powerful once recognized—statement for monogamous marriage and family here: symbolized by the bed shared by four grandparents. It says it's possible to stick to one spouse and remain sane and happy "till death do us part." And it belies the notion that in-laws can't co-exist with one another. Charlie is a shining embodiment of virtues inculcated in youth: he is poor, but he can not be bought. Yet when he becomes rich—winning the coveted ticket—he tells his family he wants to sell it so they can all have something to eat. A must-see movie, especially for people who have lost their faith in family.
(Date Reviewed: 05 August 2005)
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