After a long absence of not going to cinemas (I do miss cinema atmosphere), yesterday me and my girlfriend went to see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (CaTCF). What intrigued me to see this movie, was the fact that it was based on the book by Roald Dahl (brilliant and imaginative writer), directed by Tim Burton and that the leading actor was Johnny Depp.

CaTCF is about a boy called Charlie Bucket (played by young Freddie Highmore) who came from a really poor family, whose father worked in a toothpaste factory and hardly ever has enough money to provide food on the table (all they could eat was cabbage soup). He lived nearby a chocolate factory owned by Willy Wonka (played by Depp), which made the most famous and delicious chocolate.

However, this factory is misterious as no one ever saw any employee come in or out the factory and so no one ever saw what Willy Wonka looked like. Until one day, Willy Wonka announced an advertisement that, 5 lucky kids from around the world would be invited to come to the factory and given a tour from Willy Wonka himself. Willy Wonka randomly put 5 golden tickets in his chocolate bars, which are then shipped worldwide. Kids from all over the world competed so hard to find the golden tickets.

Poor Charlie Bucket who (like any other kids) also wanted to win the golden ticket, after a series of fortunate (and unfortunate) events, found one of the tickets and (accompanied by his grandpa) was invited along with the other 4 winners to the factory.

charlie

In the factory, they were given a tour by Willy Wonka. And I think the moral of the movie is in this tour. Because there are a lot of moral messages pictured in this part of the movie. And this message is not only intended for children, but also their parents. Things like how too much TV can mess up kids’ minds; how parents are not to spoil their kids too much; and that kids are supposed to be kids, they’re not supposed to become too ambitious (even worse, the fact that its really their parents’ ambition).

In this factory tour, Willy Wonka also had flashbacks of his youth. Willy had conflicts with his father (a Dentist), who made him put on horrible looking braces around his teeth and mouth, which made Willy look like a monster. His father hated chocolates and always told Willy that it was bad for his teeth. Conflicts got worse, because Willy always craved for chocolates and came a time where Willy tried his first chocolate, which arose more conflicts and made him leave the house and build his own factory (of course the actual story is much more exciting, but I just cut it short :P)

At the end of the tour, Willy offered Charlie something that an ordinary kid couldn’t refuse. However Charlie refused this offer for a reason that Willy couldn’t understand (at least not that instant). This reason bothered Willy for a while, and made him come to Charlie again to ask. After some time, Willy understood something that made him reunite with his father.

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This movie is a good movie. It is intended for children because it was based on a children’s book, however I had such a good time watching this movie (and I’m sure I wasn’t the only adult in the theatre that thinks that way). It is full of moral and good teachings. Although (I think) they could’ve elaborated more on Willy Wonka’s past, and how connected Charlie was to the chocolate factory, I think the viewers could still grasp the story.
I personally like how Tim Burton put Roald Dahl’s imagination into the screen, like how Willy had elevators that could move in all direction (not only up-down), and how Willy could send chocolates through television, and what Mike Teavee (one of the kids) looked like after the tour :P It was amusing.