Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (DVD)

Mel Stuart's original Willa Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971) has been given a fresh coat of paint as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.From the mind that brought us Beetle Juice,Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas,Tim Burton is back in the directors seat for the much anticipated remake of the much loved original.

The original caught hold of everyone's imagination and few people forgot Gene Wilder's strong performance as Willy Wonka.Johnny Depp steps up to the role of Wonka this time and does just as good a job,if not a better one,of portraying the unparalleled genius in confectionery.If you thought Depp was strange as Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Carribean,you'll find that he is even more strange(which is perfect)for this adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic book.

You know the story,its so simple yet so effective.A young boy named Charlie who is poor,overcomes all odds to become one of only five children who are lucky enough to find a Golden Ticket in their Wonka Chocolate bars which wins them a tour of the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world.
All the children but Charlie are greedy,spoilt and stuck up,and one by one each of them receive their just desserts whilst Charlie see's his dreams come true.

This film matches the first in many ways especially Depp as Wonka and the methods in which the children are rid of is wonderfully entertaining.For example fat Augustus Gloop falls into a giant Chocolate stream and is sucked up rather delightfully by a huge straw.The film also sheds some light on Charlie's past,something which the original doesn't and this makes the story more interesting and when you watch the ending,makes it that extra little bit special.From Everlasting Gobstoppers in the inventing room,talented squirrels in the nut room and flying glass elevators whizzing you off to different rooms of the ingeniously designed factory,the film is one big adventure.
Perhaps the only thing that stopped me from giving this 5/5 was the Oompa-Loompas.Whilst still entertaining,they for me were not half as good as the Oompa-Loompas in the original.

You would be crazy not to rent or buy this film,as it is one of the best childrens films around,which adults will also find highly entertaining.Remakes which are as good as the original are hard to come by these days so you just have to see this.

This review was written by Chris on 01 April 2006.

Johnny Depp is absoluteley perfect as oddball Willie Wonka; he plays him as funny and eccentric as Gene Wilder and the remake has a lot of parallels with the original but is in my opinion vastly superior. I loved the original for many years but this I am glad to say is one remake that really WORKS :-)

I purchased the DVD for my grand son, this is the third charlie DVD i have bought, as he has worn the others out, it is an excellent DVD, i keeps him out of mischief great DVD well worth the money, Thank you Clive668

i bought this dvd for the children and i enjoyed it just as much as they did.I liked the fact that everything that was in the book they included in the film where they dont usually do that they didnt with the 1st film they made back in the 70s

Great film for my Kids.
Having converted most of my old video collection to DVD I was thrilled to find this film gem in digital format. If you watch this in widescreen format, it really does the battle scene great justice; coupled with surround sound, you'll be gripped by the amazing cinematography. I would recommend the director's cut that includes scenes about the relationship between the lead character and his estranged wife and helps you to understand the motivation behind his decision. The run time is 183 minutes for the directors cut and 120 minutes for the cinema version. I was, however, disappointed by the lack of extras, which any fan of this classic would expect to be included. There's only a 20-minute interview with the director and other shot "making-of" vignettes.

The film on the first DVD is wonderful - Dahl's stories are always captivating and entertaining, Tim Burton's version is excellent but as I remember the first film, I prefer it - Gene Hackman is wonderful. The second DVD is absolutely brilliant! Features include a visit to Dahl's writing hut and an interactive dance lesson with an Oompa Loompa - I used this with a Primary 5 class and it was fab!

Top class movie johnny depp is wicked in it, its just the world that any child would want to be in!! very colorful and inviting any one would want to be there
great proformance from all actors!

borrowed my friends copy and my 2 yr old fell in love with the oompa loompa's, so had to get our own copy, we tend to watch it every day.
i absolutely love tim burtons style but like the fact that he's still kept to roald dahl's story.
i loved the original movie as a child, and wasn't convinced this one would even come close, but i find myself singing along to the new songs.

timeless, sometimes scary, magical adaptation.

In our International Primary School curriculum we are following the chocolate unit and as an intorduction to this theme we decided to watch this DVD.
I am very pleased with my purchase.

This is a remake of the old classic although I personally didn't think it was as good as the first film it absolutely fascinates my 6 year old daughter. Johny Depp was a fantastic main character. I decided to buy it because I have just purchased a Sony PSP for her birthday and the film is one of a collection I am getting together to go with it. Another reason for purchasing it was the price was right!

A good remake of a classic roald dahl story. This version is very different from the original, it goes more into the life of the characters and there stories. Jonny Depp plsys a brilliant part in the film. I enjoyed it at the cinema and wanted to be able to watch it again and show my family so i would definately recoment this film. Start watching it with an open mind and try not to compare every little thing to the original and i am sure you will enjoy it.

We absolutely love this film - it's visually stunning, funny, has very funny back story and Depp plays Wonka with a wistful charm which allows you to get past the weird hair! This is a truly lovely film, you must watch it!

Had the original version which my 4 year loves and so decided to buy the new one which is equaly good. really good family film.