“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” comes out on a single-disc Blu-ray package featuring Tim Burton’s rendition of the Roald Dahl novel about the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka and the children visiting his renowned chocolate factory.
This astonishing and enduring visionary piece is filled with jaw-dropping sights and visually appealing oddities. It showcases a star-studded cast including Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Deep Roy, Danny Elfman, and David Kelly.
This 2005 motion picture adaptation tells the story of Charlie and the rest of the lucky children who received golden tickets from their Wonka chocolate bars. These tickets provide them the rare opportunity to tour around Willy Wonka’s legendary chocolate and candy-making kingdom, which has never been seen by an outsider for many years. The kids’ journey to this fantastic world of sweets is also a means for Wonka to select his confectionery empire’s heir.
Visuals
This fantasy adventure piece provides a pretty solid high-definition (HD) presentation that justifies what its source material offers. It boasts great clarity, bold hues, and unique intensity. Images are deliberately soft and skin tones look artificial and waxy, which clearly coincides with the film’s intentional plastic and cartoony treatment for its characters.
Amidst the film’s considerable reverence to its source material, Burton’s ambitious eye for details allows him to skillfully implement his quirky vision and make this picture such a treat. The slickness and depth of the scenes make various visual elements very pleasing to look at. The wildly saturated colors hold strongly throughout — really popping out quite pleasantly. There are also no visual anomalies plaguing the transfer.
Audio
The film’s audio track offers exceptional directionality that aptly complements the fantasy visuals. The soundscape benefits from the mix’s wide dynamic range, which caters to both the subtlest ambience and the most aggressive audio and music effects. The speaking lines turn out full, clear, and dynamic. The sound design handles the atmospherics and effects effectively.
The musical score has utmost fidelity. The musical numbers are quite entertaining in their own bizarre ways. A rich amount of surround activities happen in various scenes, especially by the film’s second and third acts. No distortions pull down the audio track’s quality. The disc supplies two five-channel mixes in English and one each in Spanish and French.
Supplements
This release’s supplemental video materials are all in standard-definition (SD) format. They primarily come from previous disc releases. Yet, many of them are still interesting goodies that perk up the already enjoyable movie package. The very informative audio commentary by Tim Burton is easy to listen to.
The disc takes advantage of its In-Movie Experience feature, which showcases a fine collection of trivia materials, behind-the-scene featurettes, artworks, and other visually enticing materials for viewers to check out. A theatrical trailer in SD format is included as well. Subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, and French.
Final Thoughts
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is an outlandish and psychedelic trip that can amuse both children and adults. Its genuinely wacky narrative matches the film’s remarkably crafted production values. The performances of Highmore and Depp become the heart and soul of the story. The rest of the members of the cast and crew serve as pillars that make Burton’s storytelling and treatment work together seamlessly.
This Blu-ray transfer is a solid piece of entertainment that works as a fine upgrade to the film’s former releases. Its supplemental contents may be recycled materials, but including them here still adds wonders to the package. Overall, this Blu-ray offering can be a great addition to a fan’s Blu-ray collection.
