Charlie And The Chocolate Factory vs Roger Dodger

I have a confession to make: I sort of like it, in the movies, when people are mean to kids. Not harmful, necessarily, but maybe a little mean. Just a little. Not put in danger, just put in their place once in a while. Spoiled brats.

The great thing about Willie Wonka is that he seems like he'd be perfect for kids. They would love to hang out with him and eat candy all weekend. But he's so up-front in his contempt for kids that it's shocking. Surely, there's a heart in there, and one tyke will reach Willie Wonka, proving that all the while, he really was as sweet as Gobstoppers and Nerds and Laffy Taffy? Well okay, there is, but it takes a while, and on the way to warming Willy Wonka's heart, he gets a few chances to, you know, attack bratty little girls with his army of squirrels, which is the way to warm my heart.

Okay, so people are pissed that Tim Burton remade Willie Wonka, but his version is called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I really like Tim Burton, so let's just call this one an original. Besides, Tim Burton has built his career on reinterpreting the works of other people, and even when they don't work, he makes sure everything looks cool. And when people get pissed about stuff like Tim Burton remaking Willie Wonka, I have to think maybe they're pissed about something else, like the fact that Paris Hilton wrote a book.

In the beginning, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about the Bucket family, which consists of young Charlie, his parents, and four grandparents on a bed. Their house is so decrepit and fragile I'm not even sure there are nails holding any of it together; the boards just lean against each other, causing the house to tilt in every direction at once. Charlie's parents (Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor) do the best they can: Dad works in the toothpaste factory, and Mom whips up her cabbage soup every night (and could use some of that toothpaste, I'm just saying). Little Charlie (Freddie Highmore) is so kind and well-mannered he's happy to receive reject toothpaste caps as toys, and eagerly awaits his birthday, when he gets his one Wonka chocolate bar each year.

And of course, this year, there's a contest: five kids will receive golden tickets inviting them to Willie Wonka's chocolate factory, which has been locked up for years and is the stuff of much rumor and legend, mostly because of its reclusive weirdo owner. Willie Wonka, physically, falls somewhere between Prince, Pee-Wee Herman and Jack White. Comparisons have been made to Michael Jackson, but that's just people being suspicious of Willie's intentions. First of all, Willie requires each kid to bring an adult, and secondly, Willie absolutely rocks the shades and top-hat, which Michael Jackson hasn't been able to do for quite some time.

Willie Wonka, on paper, is already fairly bizarre, and here he's being played by Johnny Depp, so we know that “fairly bizarre” is simply the starting point. I really like Johnny Depp, and I have to say that he goes out on a limb as Willie Wonka, and it pays off; he's funny as hell, but also supplies much of the plot's mystery about his character with little facial ticks and sounds. Little, “huh”s and “mm”s. On the other hand, wouldn't it be fun, once in a while, for Johnny to call his agent and say, “Get me one of those shitty Nicolas Cage movies”?

As you probably guessed, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a visual wonder. Each room of the chocolate factory has a different theme, both visually and in the manner in which mean kids might get maimed. My favorite is the Nut Room, where squirrels crack nuts in a factory. The order of the rooms, and thus the scenes, doesn't seem to matter much. You could watch the middle portion of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in any order you can think of and the outcome is the same. The kids are all funny, especially super-competitive Violet Beauregarde and her freakish stage mother (played by Missi Pyle, who Tim Burton should seriously consider adding to his regular troop of players). And Charlie is played by that human embodiment of sincerity, Freddie Highmore, so you might even think about tearing up some, even though you've been laughing at kids getting stretched, shrunk, inflated, and carried away by squirrels. So you're a hypocrite; don't worry, you're not alone.

By the way, I've never craved chocolate more than I did after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I stopped and got some Junior Caramels, which are all waxy and tough. Boo.

Now I'm all for Tim Burton Night. After Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, indulge yourself in a little Beetlejuice, or maybe Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, both of which capture the same dark/innocent marriage Burton tries with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think a better bet is Roger Dodger. Like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it depends largely on a kid being conned by an inappropriate adult. It's a shame when that happens, but oh well, sometimes you get a good movie out of it.

Roger (Campbell Scott) is not a good guy. He's a smug, know-it-all misogynist. Hey, why not let him babysit for the weekend? He's gotten a surprise visit from his teenage nephew, Nick, who wants advice about women and life. Roger isn't speaking to Nick's mom, and he's just gotten dumped by his girlfriend (Isabella Rosselini), and he's basically a pig, so I'm not sure advice about women is Roger's specialty. But Roger gives the kid some advice, and then takes him out on the town to put it to use. They go clubbing, and meet two women (Elizabeth Berkley, more interesting than you remember, and Jennifer Beals, everything you remember and more) who almost seem hired for the tutorial. They're quick-witted and smart, and are drawn to Nick's innocence. Of course they peg Roger as a jerk from the start, and they're right.

Roger thinks he's just being honest; he has no idea how wrong his advice is, or that Nick's youth might prevent him from gleaning what information might be ironic or fueled by Roger's unending bitterness. Campbell Scott is great as Roger, if you stick with him. He's one of those guys who thinks “telling it like it is” means giving yourself free reign to be an asshole. It takes a few scenes to get on his side. It was probably thirty minutes into Roger Dodger before I stopped thinking “shut up, already”. But once he gets the kid, and hits the club, and meets Jennifer Beals, well I'll tell you, they might as well be in the Nut Room, cause Roger Dodger turns into a pretty fun time.

Roger Dodger is talky, and that's not for everyone, I assume. It was written and directed by Dylan Kidd, with an ear for the kind of hateful-yet-funny dialogue that fuels characters like the one played by Aaron Eckhart in Your Friends and Neighbors. As Nick, Jesse Eisenberg is good, in a pretty tough role. Everything he does in Roger Dodger is illegal, and we've got to feel the danger of the situations without necessarily fearing for Nick's safety. Mission accomplished.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: A-
Roger Dodger: B