Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Movie)

“The best kind of prize is a surprise”

Oozing with irresistibly, creamy, sweet-filled world that anyone could ever imagine is beyond the bars of the big, steel gate. It is a white castle with lots of colourful surprises inside. Assorted candies, gums, chocolate falls and fudge, whipped cream, jellies, and all sweets are like cloud nine in Willy Wonka’s factory – a factory that came to life as Tim Burton put into visuals the writings of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the chocolate factory. It is a story that brings its viewers back to their childhood days and to their greatest cravings for sweets. This is truly an irresistible treat for all ages.

Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) is an ordinary child who lives with his parents and grandparents in a crooked, old house. It was the season of snow when Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp), a chocolate whiz and a magician of sweets, decided to open his chocolate factory to public after 15 years of closure. In line with this, he launched a contest for five children and scattered five golden tickets to an ordinary Wonka bar all over the world, and whoever gets it will have a once in a lifetime chance of tour inside the mysterious factory. Also, a surprise prize that is beyond their wildest imagination awaits the winner. Willy Wonka’s traumatic childhood days was revealed during his flashbacks, which exposed the real score for him being an amazing chocolatier.

Charlie and the chocolate factory is a fairytale-like musical that highlights family values and true happiness. The story is a mixture of fancy and satire – from a fantasy world of ‘dream come true’ to Hitchcock’s famous shower scene in Psycho, the story was able to make it sumptuous not only for kids but also for the ‘kids at heart’. John August (Screenplay writer) applied flashbacks of Willy Wonka in the film, giving the viewers an overview of Willy Wonka’s family background. Being a little bit comical makes the film more appealing for the viewers. When Charlie was introduced in the film, he was described as the ‘luckiest boy in the entire world’ only, he just don’t know it. This phrase silently tells that Charlie is lucky because of the loving family that he has, even without money, for it is something that no amount of money can afford to buy. Also, the songs and dances of the Oompa Loompas were a playful highlight in disobedience that the four stubborn kids do.

The Chocolate factory is a representation of Charlie. It is plain and simple in the outside, but within lays a colourful dream that will only come to existence if you’ll know the big difference between having money and finding true happiness. Charlie, just like every one of us is in desperate need of money, in one way or another, we are in need of cash, yet above all these material things, there are dreams that even billions of money can’t buy. It is only true happiness that could bring us to our beloved chocolates, our family.

In a wrap, Charlie and the chocolate factory is a film that uses its production design to interpret the characters. Willy Wonka’s factory is as wacky as his personality, so as the snow that depicts Christmas, a gift-giving season, which could be the reason for Mr. Wonka’s golden ticket giveaway. The crooked house is an exaggerated approach of Charlie’s poor status and the golden ticket served as his key to an improved life.

There would be a time when we have to choose between a golden ticket and a 500 US dollars; let us not be a dummy and treasure the golden ticket that once lost, can never be replaced, for in every ordinary, hides an extraordinaire.