If you are a child of the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s, you are likely familiar with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).  What is there not to like for any kid?  It is a movie about candy.  Personally, I could put up with it even though it was a musical.  As an adult and a practicing Catholic, I appreciate it more for its lessons on the evils of gluttony and the value of being a good person.  There is punishment for the former and reward for the latter as God intended.  However, as classic of a film as it is, did you know it got its source material wrong, at least in terms of the title?  Was the sole idea behind the remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), to restore it to author Roald Dahl’s original heading?  The answer to those questions is likely no, but since I have already reviewed the original, I will discuss the 2005 version.

The opening credits of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory already demonstrate how this version differs from its predecessor with its industrial like production of the goods in the title location.  Living a few blocks from the factory floor is the Bucket family.  Their house is rickety, leaning to one side, and Mr. (Noah Taylor) and Mrs. Bucket (Helena Bonham Carter) barely make enough to support their family.  The situation is not helped since they must split their meagre and repetitive cabbage soups with their bed ridden parents.  You might think this is not an environment conducive to raising a happy child, but then you meet the Bucket’s son, Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore).  They may be impoverished, but Charlie loves them all regardless of their hardscrabble existence.  He also adores Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp), building a scale model of the candy maker’s massive workshop out of defective toothpaste tops, which are pocketed by Mr. Bucket since that is his job.  Upon completion, Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), shares with Charlie the elder’s story of how he once worked for Wonka before he became the world-renowned confectioner.  Grandpa Joe would have stayed employed by Wonka had the candy maker not become paranoid about spies stealing his recipes.  Years ago, Wonka fired all his employees, but innovative sweets kept being made.  The world wondered how this was possible, adding to his fame and mystery.  This sets the stage for Wonka’s biggest announcement in decades.  He has put five golden tickets into chocolate bars to be distributed around the world.  The Buckets watched liked everyone else as, one-by-one, seemingly undeserving children found them by consuming vast amounts of sugary treats.  I will get to those winners as their time comes in the factory, which should not be a spoiler if you have seen the 1971 iteration.  As for Charlie, his parents want to see him succeed, and thus give him a chocolate the day before his birthday.  There is no golden ticket.  A few days later, Grandpa Joe gives the boy a shiny coin thinking this will be different, but it is the same result.  As news breaks that the last prize had been found in Russia, Charlie finds some money in the street.  By the time he gets into the store to buy the candy, it has already come out that the Russian winner had been a fake.  Then, of course, he opens the wrapper and is greeted by gold.  The other customers offer him money for the ticket, but the clerk tells him to go straight home.  His family is delighted for Charlie, but he tells them he can get money for the prize, money they need, so he will not be going.  It is only after they insist, particularly Grandpa Joe, that he accepts.  The next day the winners are waiting outside of the factory gates.  Upon being let in, they are greeted by an animatronic display that goes awry when fireworks burn and melt the figures.  This is how Wonka is introduced to them.  He is as put off by them as they are of him, but he tries to make awkward jokes in order to cover his nervousness.  The main quirk is that he has trouble understanding parents.  Through flashbacks, we learn that he had been estranged from his dentist father, Dr. Wonka (Christoper Lee), as a boy (Blair Dunlop).  As such, he is uncaring when the kids get into trouble despite his light warning, and does not understand why their parents care so much.  As this does not vary much from the 1971 movie, I will quickly run through the mishaps: the large German boy, Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), falls into the chocolate river; Violet Beauregarde (AnnaSophia Robb), the gum chewing over achiever, blows up into a human sized blueberry; the privileged and spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) ends up in a garbage chute trying to steal a nutshell shucking squirrel; and Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) gets his namesake wish, being shrunk into a television.  Unlike before, once Wonka notices Charlie is the last one left, he wants to promptly give the remaining child the grand prize.  Using the glass elevator, they land in the Bucket’s home where Wonka announces that Charlie will now be the heir to running the factory.  This is good news until Charlie is told he must leave his family for good.  Charlie refuses, an answer for which Wonka is unprepared.  After getting some “therapy” from his Oompa-Loompa (Deep Roy) advisor, Wonka seeks out Charlie.  The boy reiterates his desire to be with his family, but it also becomes apparent that Wonka needs reconciliation with his father.  Wonka will only go see his dad with Charlie.  Dr. Wonka takes the adult as a customer and examines his teeth.  As this goes on, Charlie notices on the walls of the office clippings of all of Wonka’s achievements.  It is the healing Wonka needs.  He moves the Buckets into the factory, house and all, and they live together happily ever after.

I like it when a character like the title one in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a happy ending.  It is a sign of God’s grace.  What I will not say is that he deserved it.  Nobody deserves what God offers us because everyone, even virtuous Charlie Bucket, is a sinner.  However, that is not to say that God’s grace is arbitrary or random.  It is a mystery.  This is important because many people who try to figure this out come to the conclusion that if they act a certain way, God will reward them.  There is some truth to this stance.  After all, the ultimate reward for a faithful life is Heaven.  That is also an oversimplification of Faith.  It ignores life’s trials, like the living conditions for the Bucket family.  At the same time, that seems to be the interpretation of Christianity most want.  They see God as a magical, gift giving being who will be good to you if you are good to Him.  Though Faith is not a part of Charlie’s story, we can learn a lot about being a good Christian by emulating him.  I already discussed how he is willing to forego the chance of living his dream of touring Wonka’s factory if he could sell the golden ticket and thereby help his family.  During the journey with the other winners, while they made demands about things they wanted above and beyond what they were being given, Charlie is simply happy to be present and wonder at the sights and sounds.  Please understand that I am not trying to suggest that being a good Christian means giving up your dreams.  It is not only good to have them, but to pray for them.  God listens, I promise you.  Instead, it is about treating what you have, no matter how insignificant it might appear to others, as the blessings that they are.

All the same, I would not say that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a complete blessing.  I do appreciate that this one is not a musical, but they did do Oompa-Loompa numbers whenever one of the children fell victim to their avarice.  It is also directed by Tim Burton, who drained the story of much of its color.  Otherwise, I cannot find too many objections with it.