My feelings on Roald Dahl are fairly mixed. As a child, I liked his books. I wasn't raving over them; I simply liked them. And I must admit that some of the imagination in them is wonderful. However, sometimes, his books seem to rub me up the wrong way. They can be pretty depressing and too dark for my liking (The BFG is one of my most hated things ever in the world
). And as I got older, I grew out of the books a bit. So I'm not a huge Dahl fan. However, I have enjoyed some of the film adaptations of his stories (such as Matilda, which was one of my favourite films as a kid), and knowing that Burton was directing one of the lighter tales, I was rather intruiged. Tonight, I finally got to see the movie, which had been open in the UK for two weeks or so.And I can just say that I was rather impressed. Complete with the whimsical score and the visual style to match (although not as bold as some works of Timmy), I thought that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory pretty much rocked, even moreso than the original 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which is pretty cute even if it is tacky). Yet I must admit that the film is not without a flaw. The substance was a bit thin at times (I didn't like the childhood flashbacks or family sentiments that much as they seemed cliched.). Yet this was no matter. As usual, the visual style was great (as mentioned) and helped cover up the weaknesses.
And then there were the Umpa Lumpa/puppet songs, which were pretty odd, but equally pretty amusing (I especially liked the ode to Veruca.). The "It's a small world" spoof was also rather amusing, and the impressions of Wonka (Johnny Depp in another pretty much cool role) were equally interesting.
Like Ben, it was rather interesting to see how much a cipher Charlie is, and as a Brit, I did get confused as to why Charlie was being offered big sums of cash in dollars at one point; and still in what appeared England. And as for Wonka speaking in an American accent; it did seem odd considering we saw flashbacks of him speaking in an English accent, but I thought that it was a fair enough idea, as the whole "People in another more magical land (in this case the factory) speaking in another accent" is a good idea in my books, as whilst it does Americanize the whole production of a British novel to an extent, it doesn't go over the top and sets instant differences between the two worlds, thus perfectly fitting. Disney's versions of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan are also similar, as most of the people in the real world speak with English accents and most of the people in magic lands speak in an all American manner, thus not appearing as a total product of America and adding some more reality to fantasy (ironic isn't it).
Anyway, I thoroughly recommend this to all. I'm most likely going to get the DVD of this (although looking at early clasifications from the BBFC, the bonus features look like set top games and cookery classes, a slight disappointment
), but for those who are able, go to the cinema now to see it! Me likey! 
