|
Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryReviewed by Madelyn MillerTwice a day, on his way to and from school, little Charlie Bucket had to walk right past the gates of the factory. And every time he went by he would begin to walk very, very slowly, and he would hold his nose high in the air and take long deep sniffs of the gorgeous chocolatey smell all around him. Oh, how he loved that smell! And oh, how he wished he could go inside the factory and see what it was like. - Roald Dahl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory This movie fulfills one of my ultimate fantasies. Chocolate in every form. I have to get my own copy so I can sit around and fantasize about chocolate for 88 uninterrupted minutes without gaining a pound. If only there was a man like Willy Wonka who loved chocolate as much as I do. I would go to the end of the earth to find him. Someone needs to start a dating service for people obsessed with chocolate. Only there could I find someone who I was truly compatible with.
Most nights in the Bucket home, dinner is a watered-down bowl of cabbage soup, which young Charlie gladly shares with his mother (HELENA BONHAM CARTER) and father (NOAH TAYLOR) and both pairs of grandparents. Theirs is a tiny, tumbledown, drafty old house but it is filled with love. Every night, the last thing Charlie sees from his window is the great factory, and he drifts off to sleep dreaming about what might be inside. For nearly fifteen years, no one has seen a single worker going in or coming out of the factory, or caught a glimpse of Willy Wonka himself, yet, mysteriously, great quantities of chocolate are still being made and shipped to shops all over the world. One day Willy Wonka makes a momentous announcement. He will open his famous factory and reveal “all of its secrets and magic” to five lucky children who find golden tickets hidden inside five randomly selected Wonka chocolate bars. Nothing would make Charlie’s family happier than to see him win but the odds are very much against him as they can only afford to buy one chocolate bar a year, for his birthday.
Meanwhile, the other children prove to be a rotten bunch, so consumed with themselves that they scarcely appreciate the wonder of Wonka’s creations. One by one, their greedy, spoiled, mean-spirited or know-it-all personalities lead them into all kinds of trouble that force them off the tour before it’s even finished.
What he never expects is that his act of immeasurable generosity might bring him an even more valuable gift in return. This film is rated PG by the MPAA for “quirky situations, action and mild language.” But how can anything relating to chocolate be quirky. It is religious. Johnny Depp, who stars as Willy Wonka, especially appreciates, “the unexpected twists in Dahl’s writing. You think it’s going in one direction and then it slams you with another alternative, another route, and makes you think. At its center, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a great morality tale. But there’s also a lot of magic and fun.” This movie is perfect for adults and children. And it is so well done, you don’t even have to love chocolate to enjoy it. More Fantasies for ChocoholicsChocolatier Magazine 125 BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP RECIPES 125 BEST CHOCOLATE RECIPES 101 PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES BITTERSWEET THE EVERYTHING CHOCOLATE BOOK BAKE AND FREEZE CHOCOLATE DESSERTS ALL ABOUT CHCOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CRAZY Mr. Food Simply Chocolate The Chocolate Lover’s Guide CHOCOLATE from the CAKE MIX DOCTOR 365 Great Chocolate Desserts THE TOTALLY CHOCOLATE COOKBOOK CHOCOLATE THE LITTLE BOOK OF CHOCOLATE CINNAMON MORNINGS AND CHOCOLATE DREAMS GOOD DEEDS WITH CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES "The Chocolate Society café and shop at 36 Elizabeth Street, SW1 London. A mecca for the chocoholic. Celebrating chocolate as a gourmet delicacy, there are handmade truffles, biscuits and all sorts of other chocolate-based goodies. The shop is open from Monday to Saturday - for more information call 020 7259 9222." GREAT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE FESTIVAL Sutton Place Hotel weekend chocolate buffet Hershey, Pennsylvania Norwegian Caribbean Lines Chocolate tea buffet Chocolate Festival The Lofts Hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio is now offering chocolate lovers the opportunity to enjoy the ultimate chocolate experience, while indulging in the luxury of The Lofts. Featuring everything from a chocolate body massage and a lesson in how to make luxurious hand-dipped chocolates to a souvenir DVD copy of the movie “Chocolat”, the Pure Imagination Chocolat Lovers Package is a sweet escape. The Pure Imagination Chocolat Lovers Package starts at
just $349 per couple and includes: To top off this romantic getaway, couples can have a photo and a sweet message placed on the jumbo 18’x 32’ ADTV (Arena District Television) screen, located just a block west of The Lofts in the Arena District. Guests can even have a proposal or “I love you” message strategically timed for unveiling to a loved one. The cost of ADTV is $35 MADELYN’S FAVORITE CHOCOLATE TREATS Fairytale Chocolate Brownies 800-fairytale www.brownies.com Chocolate Cowboy Crunch from Bumblee Bee’s Baja Grill. 505-820-2862, Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can buzz through and buy them for $2.50 per package. Other irresistible treats are the Cowgirl kisses made of white chocolate and Espresso Brownies. MADELYN’S FAVORITE CHOCOLATE DESSERTS Lollipop Tree at DavidBurke and Donatella in New York (okay, it is not ALL chocolate but it is so wonderful I am making an exception) CHOCOLATE HOTEL TOTAL BODY CHOCOLATE EXPERIENCES At New Orleans Belladona Day spa you can almost OD on
chocolate CHOCOLATE DRINKS MOST EROTIC CHOCOLATE OPPORTUNITY Another interesting offering is “after dinner saints”. You could also use them after any sin. Saint boxes cost $28 for a box of four, $56 for a box of eight and $84 for twelve saints. I wonder what sins you commit would need a dozen saints for redemption? Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections, 125 East Palace Avenue #31, Santa Fe, New Mexico (505) 982-3855 |
|
TM
Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly
imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, about eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka (JOHNNY DEPP) and
Charlie Bucket (FREDDIE HIGHMORE), a good-hearted boy from a poor family who
lives in the shadow of Wonka’s extraordinary factory. 
Indeed, one by one, news breaks around the world about
the children finding golden tickets and Charlie’s hope grows dimmer. First
there is gluttonous Augustus Gloop, who thinks of nothing but stuffing
sweets into his mouth all day, followed by spoiled Veruca Salt, who throws
fits if her father doesn’t buy her everything she wants. Next comes Violet
Beauregarde, a champion gum chewer who cares only for the trophies in her
display case, and finally surly Mike Teavee, who’s always showing off how
much smarter he is than everyone else. 
But then, something wonderful happens. Charlie finds
some money on the snowy street and takes it to the nearest store for a Wonka
Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight, thinking only of how hungry he is
and how good it will taste. There, under the wrapper is a flash of gold.
It’s the last ticket. Charlie is going to the factory! His Grandpa Joe
(DAVID KELLY) is so excited by the news that he springs out of bed as if
suddenly years younger, remembering a happier time when he used to work in
the factory, before Willy Wonka closed its gates to the town forever. The
family decides that Grandpa Joe should be the one to accompany Charlie on
this once-in-a-lifetime adventure. 
Once inside, Charlie is dazzled by one amazing sight
after another. Wondrous gleaming contraptions of Wonka’s own invention
churn, pop and whistle, producing ever new and different edible delights.
Crews of merry Oompa-Loompas mine mountains of fudge beside a frothy
chocolate waterfall or ride a translucent, spun-sugar, dragon-headed boat
down a chocolate river past crops of twisted candy cane trees and edible
mint-sugar grass. Marshmallow cherry creams grow on shrubs, ripe and sweet.
Elsewhere, a hundred trained squirrels on a hundred tiny stools shell nuts
for chocolate bars faster than any machine and Wonka himself pilots an
impossible glass elevator that rockets sideways, slantways and every which
way you can think of through the vast and fantastic factory. 
Almost as intriguing as his fanciful inventions is
Willy Wonka himself, a gracious but most unconventional host. He thinks
about almost nothing but candy – except, every once in a while, when he
suddenly seems to be thinking about something that happened long ago, that
he can’t quite talk about. It’s been said that Wonka hasn’t stepped outside
the factory for years. Who he truly is and why he has devoted his life to
making sweets Charlie can only guess. 
When only little Charlie Bucket is left, Willy Wonka
reveals the final secret, the absolute grandest prize of all: the keys to
the factory itself. Long isolated from his own family, Wonka feels it is
time to find an heir to his candy empire, someone he can trust to carry on
with his life’s work and so he devised this elaborate contest to select that
one special child.