Johnny and the Chocolate Factory

The old man is out of town for the weekend, so the kids and I treated ourselves to a movie last night. I didn't really know what to expect from Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Every photo I had seen showed Mr. Depp looking extremely weird, which is disturbing, because Mr. Depp is not supposed to look extremely weird, he's supposed to look extremely handsome. Anyway, when you expect a movie to be great (see Land of the Dead blog), it usually isn't. So I went in to this expecting to be slightly weirded out, slightly disappointed (I'm not a huge Burton fan).

The first thing that made me smile was in the opening credits: David Kelly, who plays Grandpa Joe has been in my life since I was a wee las. I was amazed that he's even still alive, but he didn't look a day older than he did when I was seven. Seeing David Kelly was like smelling freshly baked bread. He reminded me of my grandparents and my childhood. It was neat.

The second grin happened when I realized who was playing Charlie: Freddie Highmore who played alongside Mr. Depp in Finding Neverland. I wanted to scoop him up and eat him then, and even though I was full from my Red Robin chicken salad, I wanted to do it again the moment I saw him. He was perfect for the part. I hope we see a lot more of him as an actor.

My favorite part of the movie is the beginning; the whole lead-up to finding the ticket is so well done in the book, and it was so in the movie too. The scene with the squirrels is hilarious, and during the scene in the TV room, I had to contain myself from peeing my pants at them all in those white goggles. Little things often amuse me to the point of hysteria; Clutch the Rocket's mascot's stupid antics is a good example. The way they all looked in those wonky white goggles was almost too much for me to handle...

Mr. Depp stole the movie, his facial expressions and vocal tone where genius. I hate to say it, but when I think of Willy Wonka in the future, his 'extremely weird' face will pop up instead of Gene Wilder's.

It was refreshing to see a movie that contained such a strong message of family values. The original movie's director, Mel Stuart, let that message get lost during the factory visit, but Tim Burton kept it alive throughout. I'm still not a Tim Burton fan, but I'm sure glad Mr. Depp is.