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Description
Here's my review of Tim Burton's take on the classic Roald Dahl story.

Charlie Bucket and his family live in poverty near the Wonka Factory. The company's owner, Willy Wonka, has long since closed his factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage committed by his jealous rivals, which led him to fire all of his employees, including Charlie's Grandpa Joe. One day, Wonka restarts his factory and announces a contest in which Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will receive a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate, while one will receive an additional prize at the end of the tour. Wonka's sales subsequently skyrocket, and the first four tickets are found by the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, the spoiled Veruca Salt, the arrogant Violet Beauregarde, and the ill-tempered Mike Teavee. Charlie tries twice to find a ticket, but both bars come up empty. After overhearing that the final ticket was found in Russia, Charlie finds a ten-dollar note and purchases a third Wonka Bar. The Russian ticket is revealed to be a forgery just as Charlie discovers the real ticket inside the wrapper. He receives monetary offers for the ticket, but the cashier tells him to not trade it at any cost, and Charlie runs back home. At home, Charlie says that he wants to trade it for money for his family's betterment. After a pep talk from Grandpa George however, he decides to keep it and brings Grandpa Joe to accompany him on the tour. Charlie and the other ticket holders are greeted outside the factory by Wonka, who then leads them into the facility. What awaits the children inside the factory?

Pros:
1. Willy Wonka is a decent secondary lead.
2. Grandpa Joe, Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, and the Oompa Loompas are all great support.
3. Augustus, Violet, Veruca, and Mike are all good foils to Charlie.
4. Wilbur is a decent new addition for this version.
5. It really captures the spirit of the book like the 1971 film did, but in a different way.
6. Some well done charming and heartwarming moments now and then.
7. Pretty good acting for the most part.
8. Spectacular special effects that are a major upgrade from the 1971 film.
9. Highly crafted sets, makeup, and costumes.
10. Danny Elfman provides a very memorable score, and the Oompa Loompa songs are very memorable and catchy.
11. The story is pretty well written, and it sticks much closer to the book than the previous version while still making a few changes here and there.

Cons:
1. Unlike the 1971 film, Charlie is a very bland and uninteresting protagonist.
2. Wonka can get awkward at times.
3. The humor is hit or miss.

Overall:
This is one of the few remakes that can actually stand alongside the original and be seen as a legit alternative. Although not as good as the 1971 film, this is still worth a watch.

Rating:
8.5/10 (Great to Amazing)

Production Notes and Trivia:
1. After Roald Dahl disapproved of the 1971 film adaptation, Warner Bros. and Brillstein-Grey Entertainment entered discussions with the Dahl estate in 1991, hoping to purchase the rights to produce another film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The purchase was finalized in 1998, with Dahl's widow, Felicity ("Liccy"), and daughter, Lucy, receiving total artistic control and final privilege on the choices of actors, directors and writers. The Dahl estate's subsequent protection of the source material was the main reason that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had languished in development hell since the 1990s.
2. Scott Frank was hired to write the screenplay in February 1999, after approaching Warner Bros. for the job. Frank, a recent Oscar-nominee for the R-rated crime film Out of Sight, wanted to work on a film that his children could enjoy. As an enthusiastic fan of the book, he intended to remain more faithful to Dahl's vision than the 1971 film had been. Nicolas Cage was under discussions for Willy Wonka, but lost interest. Gary Ross signed to direct in February 2000, which resulted in Frank completing two drafts of the screenplay, before leaving with Ross in September 2001. Both Warner Bros. and the Dahl Estate wanted Frank to stay on the project, but he faced scheduling conflicts and contractual obligations with Minority Report and The Lookout.
3. Rob Minkoff entered negotiations to take the director's position in October 2001, and Gwyn Lurie was hired to start from scratch on a new script in February 2002. Lurie said she would adapt the original book and ignore the 1971 film adaptation. Dahl's estate championed Lurie after being impressed with her work on another Dahl adaptation, a live-action adaptation of The BFG, for Paramount Pictures, which was never made (Paramount distributed the earlier 1971 film version of Charlie, and later sold the rights to WB). In April 2002, Martin Scorsese was involved with the film, albeit briefly, but opted to direct The Aviator instead. Warner Bros. president Alan F. Horn wanted Tom Shadyac to direct Jim Carrey as Willy Wonka, believing the duo could make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory relevant to mainstream audiences, but Liccy Dahl opposed this.
4. After receiving enthusiastic approval from the Dahl estate, Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct in May 2003. Burton compared the project's languishing development to Batman, which he directed, in how there had been varied creative efforts with both films. He said, "Scott Frank's version was the best, probably the clearest, and the most interesting, but they had abandoned that." Liccy Dahl commented that Burton was the first and only director the estate was happy with. He had previously produced another of the author's adaptations with James and the Giant Peach (also produced by Burton), and, like Roald and Liccy, disliked the 1971 film because it strayed from the book's storyline.
5. During pre-production Burton visited Dahl's former home in the Buckinghamshire village of Great Missenden. Liccy Dahl remembers Burton entering Dahl's famed writing shed and saying, "This is the Buckets' house!" and thinking to herself, "Thank God, somebody gets it." Liccy also showed Burton the original handwritten manuscripts, which Burton discovered were more politically incorrect than the published book. The manuscripts included a child named Herpes, after the sexually transmitted disease. Burton immediately thought of Johnny Depp for the role of Willy Wonka, who in August 2003 joined the film, his fourth collaboration with the director.
6. Lurie's script received a rewrite by Pamela Pettler, who worked with Burton on Corpse Bride, but the director hired Big Fish screenwriter John August in December 2003 to start from scratch. Both August and Burton were fans of the book since their childhoods. August first read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he was eight years old, and subsequently sent Dahl a fan letter. He did not see the 1971 film prior to his hiring, which Burton believed would be fundamental in having August stay closer to the book. The writer updated the Mike Teavee character into an obsessive video game player, as compared to the novel, in which he fantasized about violent crime films. The characters Arthur Slugworth and Prodnose were reduced to brief cameo appearances, while Mr. Beauregarde was entirely omitted.
7. Burton and August also worked together in creating Wilbur Wonka, Willy's domineering dentist father. Burton thought the paternal character would help explain Willy Wonka himself and that otherwise he would be "just a weird guy". The element of an estranged father-son relationship had previously appeared in Big Fish, similarly directed by Burton and written by August. Warner Bros. and the director held differences over the characterizations of Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka. The studio wanted to entirely delete Mr. Bucket and make Willy Wonka the idyllic father figure Charlie had longed for his entire life. Burton believed that Wonka would not be a good father, finding the character similar to a recluse. Burton said, "In some ways, he's more screwed up than the kids." Warner Bros. also wanted Charlie to be a whiz kid, but Burton resisted the characterization. He wanted Charlie to be an average child who would be in the background and not get in trouble.
8. Prior to Burton's involvement, Warner Bros. considered or discussed Willy Wonka with Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Mike Myers, Ben Stiller, Leslie Nielsen, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin (all three of them were members of Monty Python), Patrick Stewart, and Adam Sandler. Dustin Hoffman and Marilyn Manson reportedly wanted the role as well. Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, however, stayed on to co-finance the film with Warner Bros. Johnny Depp was the only actor Burton considered for the role, although Dwayne Johnson was Burton's second choice in case Depp was unavailable. Depp signed on without reading the script under the intention of going with a completely different approach than what Gene Wilder did in the 1971 film adaptation. Depp said regardless of the original film, Gene Wilder's characterization of Willy Wonka stood out as a unique portrayal.
9. Before Adam Godley was officially cast as Mr. Teavee, Dan Castellaneta, Tim Allen, Ed O'Neill, Bob Saget, and Ray Romano were all considered for the role.
10. It has been rumored that Gregory Peck was considered for the role of Grandpa Joe. Other actors that were considered for Grandpa Joe included Richard Attenborough, Kirk Douglas, Albert Finney, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Newman, Max von Sydow, David Warner, Christopher Lloyd and Peter Ustinov.
11. Principal photography for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory started on June 21, 2004, at Pinewood Studios in England. Director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman found filming somewhat difficult because they were simultaneously working on Corpse Bride. The Wonka Factory exterior was coincidentally constructed on the same backlot Burton had used for Gotham City in Batman. The ceremonial scene required 500 local extras. The Chocolate Room/River setpiece filled Pinewood's 007 Stage. As a consequence of British Equity rules, which state that children can only work four and a half hours a day, filming for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory took six months, ending in December 2004.
12. The architecture of the Bucket family home was influenced by Burton's visit to Roald Dahl's writing hut. Like the book, the film has a "timeless" setting and is not set in a specific country. "We've tried not to pinpoint it to any place," production designer Alex McDowell explained. "The cars, in fact, drive down the middle of the road." The town, whose design was shaped by the black and white urban photography of Bill Brandt, as well as Pittsburgh and Northern England, is arranged like a medieval village, with Wonka's estate on top and the Bucket shack below. The filmmakers also used fascist architecture for Wonka's factory exterior, and designed most of the sets on 360-degree sound stages, similar to cycloramas. Burton biographer Mark Salisbury wrote that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory "melds 1950s and '70s visuals with a futuristic sensibility that seems straight out of a 1960s sense of the future." The "TV Room" was patterned after photographs from the films 2001: A Space Odyssey, Danger: Diabolik, and THX 1138. Danger Diabolik also served as inspiration for the Nut Room and Inventing Room.
13. Tim Burton avoided using too many digital effects because he wanted the younger actors to feel as if they were working in a realistic environment. As a result, forced perspective techniques, oversized props and scale models were used to avoid computer-generated imagery wherever possible. Deep Roy was cast to play the Oompa-Loompas based on his previous collaborations with Burton on Planet of the Apes and Big Fish. The actor was able to play various Oompa-Loompas using split screen photography, digital and front projection effects. "Tim told me that the Oompa-Loompas were strictly programmed, like robots—all they do is work, work, work," Roy commented. "So when it comes time to dance, they're like a regiment; they do the same steps."
14. A practical method was considered for the scene in which Violet Beauregarde turns blue and swells up into a giant 10-foot blueberry. A suit with an air hose was considered at one point for the beginnings of the swelling scene, before the decision was made to do the entire transformation in CGI. The visual effects house Cinesite was recruited for this assignment. In some shots of AnnaSophia Robb's head, a facial prosthetic was worn to give the impression that her cheeks had swelled up as well. Because this decision was made late in the film's production, any traces of Violet's blueberry scene were omitted from trailers or promotional material.
15. Rather than rely on CGI, Burton wanted the 40 squirrels in the Nut Room to be real. The animals were trained every day for 10 weeks before filming commenced. They began their coaching while newborns, fed by bottles to form relationships with human trainers. The squirrels were each taught how to sit upon a little blue bar stool, tap and then open a walnut, and deposit its meat onto a conveyor belt. "Ultimately, the scene was supplemented by CGI and animatronics," Burton said, "but for the close-ups and the main action, they're the real thing." Wonka's Viking boat for the Chocolate River sequence floats down a realistic river filled with 192,000 gallons of faux melted chocolate. "Having seen the first film, we wanted to make the chocolate river look edible," McDowell said. "In the first film, it's so distasteful." The production first considered a CGI river, but Burton was impressed with the artificial substance when he saw how it clung to the boat's oars. Nine shades of chocolate were tested before Burton settled on the proper hue.

Description
Here's my review of Tim Burton's take on the classic Roald Dahl story.

Charlie Bucket and his family live in poverty near the Wonka Factory. The company's owner, Willy Wonka, has long since closed his factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage committed by his jealous rivals, which led him to fire all of his employees, including Charlie's Grandpa Joe. One day, Wonka restarts his factory and announces a contest in which Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will receive a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate, while one will receive an additional prize at the end of the tour. Wonka's sales subsequently skyrocket, and the first four tickets are found by the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, the spoiled Veruca Salt, the arrogant Violet Beauregarde, and the ill-tempered Mike Teavee. Charlie tries twice to find a ticket, but both bars come up empty. After overhearing that the final ticket was found in Russia, Charlie finds a ten-dollar note and purchases a third Wonka Bar. The Russian ticket is revealed to be a forgery just as Charlie discovers the real ticket inside the wrapper. He receives monetary offers for the ticket, but the cashier tells him to not trade it at any cost, and Charlie runs back home. At home, Charlie says that he wants to trade it for money for his family's betterment. After a pep talk from Grandpa George however, he decides to keep it and brings Grandpa Joe to accompany him on the tour. Charlie and the other ticket holders are greeted outside the factory by Wonka, who then leads them into the facility. What awaits the children inside the factory?

Pros:
1. Willy Wonka is a decent secondary lead.
2. Grandpa Joe, Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, and the Oompa Loompas are all great support.
3. Augustus, Violet, Veruca, and Mike are all good foils to Charlie.
4. Wilbur is a decent new addition for this version.
5. It really captures the spirit of the book like the 1971 film did, but in a different way.
6. Some well done charming and heartwarming moments now and then.
7. Pretty good acting for the most part.
8. Spectacular special effects that are a major upgrade from the 1971 film.
9. Highly crafted sets, makeup, and costumes.
10. Danny Elfman provides a very memorable score, and the Oompa Loompa songs are very memorable and catchy.
11. The story is pretty well written, and it sticks much closer to the book than the previous version while still making a few changes here and there.

Cons:
1. Unlike the 1971 film, Charlie is a very bland and uninteresting protagonist.
2. Wonka can get awkward at times.
3. The humor is hit or miss.

Overall:
This is one of the few remakes that can actually stand alongside the original and be seen as a legit alternative. Although not as good as the 1971 film, this is still worth a watch.

Rating:
8.5/10 (Great to Amazing)

Production Notes and Trivia:
1. After Roald Dahl disapproved of the 1971 film adaptation, Warner Bros. and Brillstein-Grey Entertainment entered discussions with the Dahl estate in 1991, hoping to purchase the rights to produce another film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The purchase was finalized in 1998, with Dahl's widow, Felicity ("Liccy"), and daughter, Lucy, receiving total artistic control and final privilege on the choices of actors, directors and writers. The Dahl estate's subsequent protection of the source material was the main reason that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had languished in development hell since the 1990s.
2. Scott Frank was hired to write the screenplay in February 1999, after approaching Warner Bros. for the job. Frank, a recent Oscar-nominee for the R-rated crime film Out of Sight, wanted to work on a film that his children could enjoy. As an enthusiastic fan of the book, he intended to remain more faithful to Dahl's vision than the 1971 film had been. Nicolas Cage was under discussions for Willy Wonka, but lost interest. Gary Ross signed to direct in February 2000, which resulted in Frank completing two drafts of the screenplay, before leaving with Ross in September 2001. Both Warner Bros. and the Dahl Estate wanted Frank to stay on the project, but he faced scheduling conflicts and contractual obligations with Minority Report and The Lookout.
3. Rob Minkoff entered negotiations to take the director's position in October 2001, and Gwyn Lurie was hired to start from scratch on a new script in February 2002. Lurie said she would adapt the original book and ignore the 1971 film adaptation. Dahl's estate championed Lurie after being impressed with her work on another Dahl adaptation, a live-action adaptation of The BFG, for Paramount Pictures, which was never made (Paramount distributed the earlier 1971 film version of Charlie, and later sold the rights to WB). In April 2002, Martin Scorsese was involved with the film, albeit briefly, but opted to direct The Aviator instead. Warner Bros. president Alan F. Horn wanted Tom Shadyac to direct Jim Carrey as Willy Wonka, believing the duo could make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory relevant to mainstream audiences, but Liccy Dahl opposed this.
4. After receiving enthusiastic approval from the Dahl estate, Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct in May 2003. Burton compared the project's languishing development to Batman, which he directed, in how there had been varied creative efforts with both films. He said, "Scott Frank's version was the best, probably the clearest, and the most interesting, but they had abandoned that." Liccy Dahl commented that Burton was the first and only director the estate was happy with. He had previously produced another of the author's adaptations with James and the Giant Peach (also produced by Burton), and, like Roald and Liccy, disliked the 1971 film because it strayed from the book's storyline.
5. During pre-production Burton visited Dahl's former home in the Buckinghamshire village of Great Missenden. Liccy Dahl remembers Burton entering Dahl's famed writing shed and saying, "This is the Buckets' house!" and thinking to herself, "Thank God, somebody gets it." Liccy also showed Burton the original handwritten manuscripts, which Burton discovered were more politically incorrect than the published book. The manuscripts included a child named Herpes, after the sexually transmitted disease. Burton immediately thought of Johnny Depp for the role of Willy Wonka, who in August 2003 joined the film, his fourth collaboration with the director.
6. Lurie's script received a rewrite by Pamela Pettler, who worked with Burton on Corpse Bride, but the director hired Big Fish screenwriter John August in December 2003 to start from scratch. Both August and Burton were fans of the book since their childhoods. August first read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he was eight years old, and subsequently sent Dahl a fan letter. He did not see the 1971 film prior to his hiring, which Burton believed would be fundamental in having August stay closer to the book. The writer updated the Mike Teavee character into an obsessive video game player, as compared to the novel, in which he fantasized about violent crime films. The characters Arthur Slugworth and Prodnose were reduced to brief cameo appearances, while Mr. Beauregarde was entirely omitted.
7. Burton and August also worked together in creating Wilbur Wonka, Willy's domineering dentist father. Burton thought the paternal character would help explain Willy Wonka himself and that otherwise he would be "just a weird guy". The element of an estranged father-son relationship had previously appeared in Big Fish, similarly directed by Burton and written by August. Warner Bros. and the director held differences over the characterizations of Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka. The studio wanted to entirely delete Mr. Bucket and make Willy Wonka the idyllic father figure Charlie had longed for his entire life. Burton believed that Wonka would not be a good father, finding the character similar to a recluse. Burton said, "In some ways, he's more screwed up than the kids." Warner Bros. also wanted Charlie to be a whiz kid, but Burton resisted the characterization. He wanted Charlie to be an average child who would be in the background and not get in trouble.
8. Prior to Burton's involvement, Warner Bros. considered or discussed Willy Wonka with Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Mike Myers, Ben Stiller, Leslie Nielsen, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin (all three of them were members of Monty Python), Patrick Stewart, and Adam Sandler. Dustin Hoffman and Marilyn Manson reportedly wanted the role as well. Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, however, stayed on to co-finance the film with Warner Bros. Johnny Depp was the only actor Burton considered for the role, although Dwayne Johnson was Burton's second choice in case Depp was unavailable. Depp signed on without reading the script under the intention of going with a completely different approach than what Gene Wilder did in the 1971 film adaptation. Depp said regardless of the original film, Gene Wilder's characterization of Willy Wonka stood out as a unique portrayal.
9. Before Adam Godley was officially cast as Mr. Teavee, Dan Castellaneta, Tim Allen, Ed O'Neill, Bob Saget, and Ray Romano were all considered for the role.
10. It has been rumored that Gregory Peck was considered for the role of Grandpa Joe. Other actors that were considered for Grandpa Joe included Richard Attenborough, Kirk Douglas, Albert Finney, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Newman, Max von Sydow, David Warner, Christopher Lloyd and Peter Ustinov.
11. Principal photography for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory started on June 21, 2004, at Pinewood Studios in England. Director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman found filming somewhat difficult because they were simultaneously working on Corpse Bride. The Wonka Factory exterior was coincidentally constructed on the same backlot Burton had used for Gotham City in Batman. The ceremonial scene required 500 local extras. The Chocolate Room/River setpiece filled Pinewood's 007 Stage. As a consequence of British Equity rules, which state that children can only work four and a half hours a day, filming for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory took six months, ending in December 2004.
12. The architecture of the Bucket family home was influenced by Burton's visit to Roald Dahl's writing hut. Like the book, the film has a "timeless" setting and is not set in a specific country. "We've tried not to pinpoint it to any place," production designer Alex McDowell explained. "The cars, in fact, drive down the middle of the road." The town, whose design was shaped by the black and white urban photography of Bill Brandt, as well as Pittsburgh and Northern England, is arranged like a medieval village, with Wonka's estate on top and the Bucket shack below. The filmmakers also used fascist architecture for Wonka's factory exterior, and designed most of the sets on 360-degree sound stages, similar to cycloramas. Burton biographer Mark Salisbury wrote that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory "melds 1950s and '70s visuals with a futuristic sensibility that seems straight out of a 1960s sense of the future." The "TV Room" was patterned after photographs from the films 2001: A Space Odyssey, Danger: Diabolik, and THX 1138. Danger Diabolik also served as inspiration for the Nut Room and Inventing Room.
13. Tim Burton avoided using too many digital effects because he wanted the younger actors to feel as if they were working in a realistic environment. As a result, forced perspective techniques, oversized props and scale models were used to avoid computer-generated imagery wherever possible. Deep Roy was cast to play the Oompa-Loompas based on his previous collaborations with Burton on Planet of the Apes and Big Fish. The actor was able to play various Oompa-Loompas using split screen photography, digital and front projection effects. "Tim told me that the Oompa-Loompas were strictly programmed, like robots—all they do is work, work, work," Roy commented. "So when it comes time to dance, they're like a regiment; they do the same steps."
14. A practical method was considered for the scene in which Violet Beauregarde turns blue and swells up into a giant 10-foot blueberry. A suit with an air hose was considered at one point for the beginnings of the swelling scene, before the decision was made to do the entire transformation in CGI. The visual effects house Cinesite was recruited for this assignment. In some shots of AnnaSophia Robb's head, a facial prosthetic was worn to give the impression that her cheeks had swelled up as well. Because this decision was made late in the film's production, any traces of Violet's blueberry scene were omitted from trailers or promotional material.
15. Rather than rely on CGI, Burton wanted the 40 squirrels in the Nut Room to be real. The animals were trained every day for 10 weeks before filming commenced. They began their coaching while newborns, fed by bottles to form relationships with human trainers. The squirrels were each taught how to sit upon a little blue bar stool, tap and then open a walnut, and deposit its meat onto a conveyor belt. "Ultimately, the scene was supplemented by CGI and animatronics," Burton said, "but for the close-ups and the main action, they're the real thing." Wonka's Viking boat for the Chocolate River sequence floats down a realistic river filled with 192,000 gallons of faux melted chocolate. "Having seen the first film, we wanted to make the chocolate river look edible," McDowell said. "In the first film, it's so distasteful." The production first considered a CGI river, but Burton was impressed with the artificial substance when he saw how it clung to the boat's oars. Nine shades of chocolate were tested before Burton settled on the proper hue.