‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’
Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) comes from a poverty-stricken family, living in a crooked house with three generations of other Buckets, including Grandpa Joe (David Kelly). Charlie dreams of winning one of five golden tickets to visit Wonka’s chocolate factory. A lucky chain of events unfolds which sees Charlie and Joe visiting the revered factory for a day they will never forget.
This is not a remake of the 1971 Gene Wilder movie. This is both a better movie and a better adaptation of the source material.

Tim Burton’s films are always interesting. The man who brought us ‘Edward Scissorhands’, ‘Batman’, and ‘Beetle Juice’, has once again been inspired by a reclusive misfit, Mr. Willy Wonka.

‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ marks his fourth collaboration with Johnny Depp. They’re obviously on the same page artistically, which explains how Burton seems to coax great performances from him. Depp’s Wonka is a jarring creation. At once creepy and innocent, comparisons to a certain pale-skinned ‘King of Pop’ are hardly uninvited.

Production designer Alex McDowell has a field day catering to Burton’s outlandish vision for the world in which the story unfolds. The chocolate factory itself represents an explosion of imagination, while special mention must go to the chocolate-built palace, the new and improved Oompa Loopas, and Danny Elfman’s wonderful melding of his own score and music with Dahl’s written word. Funny, wildly inventive, and catering for both adults and children on numerous levels, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ is highly recommended viewing.
4 out of 5

‘Fantastic Four’
The current trend for superhero movies continues apace with ‘Fantastic Four’. The latest effort from Marvel Enterprises is the story of four astronauts whose DNA is fundamentally altered during a freak accident in space, giving them superhuman powers.

Reed Richards, played by Ioan Gruffudd (‘King Arthur’), is an inventor and leader of the group. He gains the ability to stretch his body like elastic, and goes by the alias, Mr. Fantastic.

His ex-girlfriend, Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) gains the power of invisibility, hence the moniker, The Invisible Woman. Her younger brother Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, ‘Cellular’) gains the ability to manipulate fire, (including engulfing his own body with flame), becoming The Human Torch.
Ben Grimm is transformed into a super-strong rock creature, gaining the nickname ‘The Thing’ (Michael Chiklis, ‘The Shield’). A fifth member of the space mission, billionaire industrialist and mission financier Victor Von Doom, is also mysteriously affected by the cosmic blast, and holds Reed Richards directly responsible for the failure of the mission and subsequent liquidation of his company.

The result is certainly a mixed bag, but not the disaster many were anticipating. ‘Fantastic Four’ is a single layer family-friendly popcorn movie. What you see is what you get with this movie and in a way it’s a refreshing change.

No doubt, the comic fans were upset that their heroes weren’t going to get a ‘serious’ big screen treatment, but the movie actually benefits from not taking itself too seriously. It is the antithesis of the brilliantly dark and minimalist ‘Batman Begins’, but only because the material requires it to be.

Performances by Chiklis and Evans are the notable standouts, with adequate, if slightly mundane, turns from Alba and Gruffudd. Julian McMahon (Dr. Troy from TV’s ‘Nip/Tuck’) comes off worst, given nothing interesting to do with a stereotypical comic book villain. The main draw here, though, is the special effects work. Mostly excellent, with the obvious exception of Mr. Fantastic’s stretching effect, Fantastic Four is a pleasure to look at.
3 out of 5

For Your Consideration

‘War of the Worlds’
Steven Spielberg’s take on H.G Wells’s novel, is a movie of two distinct halves. Firstly, a fast-paced action movie, secondly a slow-burn exercise in basement-based tension. Both work brilliantly and WOW is big-budget disaster movie greatness. Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a blue-collar (!) dock worker, trying to outrun and outwit alien invaders in a bid to save his life and the lives of his two kids.
4 out of 5

‘The Descent’
Afraid of the dark? You will be. Director Neil Marshall (‘Dog Soldiers’) delivers a truly frightening and claustrophobic British horror movie about an all-female caving expedition that goes horrifically wrong. This is low budget, inventive filmmaking at its best, and truly one of the scariest movies in a long, long time.
4 out of 5

‘The Wedding Crashers’
With a tagline like ‘Hide your Bridesmaids’, you know exactly what your getting with the latest team up of two ‘frat-pack’ stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Playing a pair of committed womanisers crashing weddings to take advantage of any women they can, ‘The Wedding Crashers’ is ultimately, occasionally funny, run of the mill stuff.
2.5 out of 5

Movie News
Brett Ratner (‘Red Dragon’) is directing the third X-Men movie, recently shooting scenes at Alcatraz. The movie is due in May 2006.

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley are reprising their roles in not one, but two ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ sequels, shooting back-to-back, for release in summer 2006 and summer 2007.

Steven Spielberg has announced plans for a ‘Transformers’ movie franchise. He wants Michael Bay to direct the first movie about transforming robots/ vehicles based on a popular toy line/cartoon show from the eighties.

NEWSFOUR'S Film Scene By Michael Hillard