Tim Burton's take on Roald Dahl's beloved novel Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is "an intoxicating endorphin rush". Johnny Depp shines as the freaky factory owner in a project that re-teamed him with his Finding Neverland co-star Freddie Highmore. It found sweet success at the box office although the debate over whether or not it's better than the 1971 version rages on...
Fondant Fancy
Burton hints at the creative kinship between him and Dahl in Chocolate Dreams - one of eight, amply sized behind-the-scenes featurettes. He credits the late children's author with being "one of the first writers to really capture the light and the dark" and explains how he and screenwriter John August set about making a faithful adaptation while taking a few liberties with the ending. Different Faces, Different Flavours puts the spotlight on each of the key players with Depp defining his outlandish interpretation of Willy Wonka as "a bad game show host for children". Freddie Highmore and the rest of the children also talk about their approach to this larger-than-life retelling.
Deep Roy gets his own forum in Becoming An Oompa-Loompa, which is fair enough because as Burton notes, "It was the hardest job on the movie." Poor little Roy was put through his paces having to portray each one of a multitude of Oompa-Loompas in any given scene. It was especially taxing for the song-and-dance numbers with Roy timidly revealing, "I knew I could dance but I didn't know I could do the steps." Complementing this featurette is an in-depth look at the musical segments in Sweet Sounds. Burton's go-to composer Danny Elfman talks about the Oompa-Loompas as a "Greek chorus" and reveals his initial reservations about having to flit from "psychedelic Mamas & The Papas" to "Queen-style" rock music to a twanging "blaxploitation feel".
Cocoa Loco
Designer Chocolate unwraps the candy-coloured design of the sets and costumes. Burton outlines his intention to marry "both the American and British sensibilities" in his vision of the town while Depp describes the factory as "walking through Wonka's brain". Under The Wrapper delves deeper with a look at how the effects crew were able to create a convincingly luscious chocolate river that was safe enough for Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz) to wallow in. Annasophia Robb doing Violet Beauregrade's blueberry metamorphosis was also a tricky prospect with Burton eventually ditching practical effects for CGI.
Perhaps the most offbeat addition to this disc is Attack Of The Squirrels. This really is a delightful featurette following an army of squirrels through nut-cracking boot camp. Apparently each of the critters was rescued from the wild and trained for action with wranglers boasting that, "our smartest squirrels do the nut gags". Talking of which, Burton relives the "spooky, strange experience" of being attacked by one of the more feral members of this sharp-toothed squad...
If you burrow to the bottom of the special feature menu, you'll find an Easter egg featuring Oompa-Loompa musical outtakes. Similarly the Golden Ticket game rewards you with Oompa-Loompa animatics in the activities section. Completing the extras is a warm tribute to the great Roald Dahl by the filmmakers and the family (including executive producer Liccy Dahl). Disappointingly, there is no commentary to accompany the main feature but this two-disc Deluxe Edition is still a mouth-watering package.
EXTRA FEATURES
