DVD Reviews

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: David Kelly
• Details: US, 115 mins, PG.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's collaboration sees the reopening of Roald Dahl's fabulous factory. And you anticipate before the film begins that this is going to be either barkingly brilliant or a recipe for disaster. However, CatCF is neither, and somehow a little bit of both. The traditional opening, in which the characters outside the factory are established, is a pleasing and promising affair. Until we get to the day-glow factory and the clearly unhinged chocolate genius Wonka. The flashback sequences of Wonka's childhood provide comical interludes and offer relief from the relentlessness of the factory - and the coca addicted Oompa Loompas (or should that be Oompa Loompa, singular). Let's face it; mediocrity is not acceptable when one is adapting a Roald Dahl book which has already been a movie hit, so while Burton's version is interesting and entertaining, it is also a little tiresome in places, and something of a let down for longtime Depp/Burton/Dahl fans.

Review by Elaine Reilly