Charlie and the chocolate factory

A fabulous film. I will admit I'm far from convinced it'd stand up to repeated viewings - the gaudiness of the factory itself, however deliberate, would become wearing on the eyes, lacking the subtlety of the Buckets' home - but it was enormous fun.

A lovely script, equally at home with mild innuendo ("don't touch that squirrel's nuts!") and delicious throwaway lines ("even I'm edible, but that would be cannibalism") which stayed remarkably faithful to Roald Dahl's novel. The addition of Christopher Lee's character was a bit unnecessary but fun, giving the film a more satisfying (if hackneyed) conclusion than the novel and its rather silly sequel.

And let's hear it for the actors - Johnny Depp as marvellously eccentric as ever, while Freddie Highmore's Charlie is a good child without being nauseating (a difficult feat to pull off) and the supporting cast are the expected bunch of gentle caricatures and grotesques. Liz Smith makes a lovely senile grandmother.

(1st August 2005)

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