Charlie and the chocolate factory tells the story of how a young boy, disadvantaged by the lack of money, wins a tour around the largest chocolate factory in the world. Throughout his childhood, the young boy has been fascinated by the dauntingly large factory that produces so many wonderfully created sweets and chocolates. When looking around the factory Charlie is patient, kind and cheerful- unlike the other children with gruesome characteristics. Charlie is barely noticed until the end of the tour when he is the only child remaining. Willy Wonka gives the Charlie the sought after prize… the factory! When Charlie’s family is not included in the prize, the young boy refuses the offer, bewildering the independent Mr Willy Wonka. The chocolatier takes his own path to find out about the wonders of having a family and starts to rebuild his relationship with his father. Charlie disappointed but still content with his actions is offered the factory again with his family where he ecstatically agrees.
The action is played out against a range of atmospheric settings which may portray a more macabre view of the film. In the opening scenes we see the dark, snowy town where the factory seems to be situated, as well as the Bucket household. Houses are monotonously built in rows like the old-fashioned industrial northern towns of England. The overcastted sky, full of pollution, fills the lungs and drowns the pedestrians in sorrow. No children can be seen on the streets, just adults walking as fast as they can to the warmth of their houses, buttoned up to their necks with grey coats. Their hats clutching to their heads, sucking in the warmth yet their coldness is within. However, flash backs seen later in the film does not show this misery and gloom. It is filled with colour; children are happily playing with one another in the vivid high street- which is beaming with business. They are contently eating the sweets of Willy Wonka’s creation.
Charlie, on the other hand, does not live in a row of houses like the majority of the people in the town. He lives in a fallen down cottage situated right at the end of one of the rows, strangely isolated from the rest of the town. Despite the obvious shabbiness of the household, a glow of warmth radiates, filling the air in the bitter town. Inside, the “glow of warmth” is put into a better perspective. A log fire is burning at the back of the room and warm orange lamps are dimly lit, revealing a small kitchen and a bed in the centre of the room. Charlie lives with his extended family, all together in the small cottage. His four grandparents, all lie together in the double bed. The mood in the house is positive, as everyone is determined to try to create a cheerful atmosphere for the young Charlie.
The first time the factory is seen, the low angle of the camera makes it look enormous, which should be so, as the majority of the action is played out against the settings within. In each of the rooms in the factory elements of fairytale and magic can be portrayed. In the first room, the Garden of Eden is re-created using sweets and a waterfall binds a liquid mixture to create a river full of melted chocolate, which floats past. Candy cane trees, like the devil, reach out forcing forbidden fruits into the faces of those clinging on to their never-ending diets, like Eve clinging onto her purity. Other rooms are filled with animal-like machinery which move to the fast pace of the music. Behind the vast colour, the greyness of the metal prominently stands out showing a more sinister side to the factory, as though there is something trying hide beneath the colours.
Johnny Depp plays the role of Mr Willy Wonka with great enthusiasm and is able to expose the loneliness of the character without loosing touch with the audience. Depp’s ability to perceive a naïve personality, while wearing childish clothing and haircut, fit together to produce the strange yet slightly mysterious Willy Wonka. Another interesting role was played by Deep Roy, the annoyingly, only Oompa Loompa in the film. He was perfect for the part, not only for his height but also his skin tone as the Oompa Loompa’s were from a tropical land. His hours of choreography and repetitive movements were disappointing and look as though they were easily done by a computer.
Charlie and the chocolate factory is a happy film for all the family with a strong, positive moral which is slowly hammered into the heads of young children that their family should come first before luxuries. However, the two cultures of American society and that of the English collide greatly. The old-fashioned northern English town