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Parents' Guide to

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Bright, spirited, and edgy version of Willy Wonka.

Movie PG 2005 115 minutes
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 8+

Based on 29 parent reviews

age 10+

Age appropriate is the real question, regardless of my enjoyment or lack there of.

If you don't want your second-grader to be desensitized to obscure, rough "humor" than understand PG is more than a suggestion. Children, at this age, are literal thinkers. Inserting images and statements as a 'no-biggie', can have a negative effect. It doesn't make them wiser, smarter, stronger, it, ultimately makes it harder. Don't rush it; just let them watch it later in life, it's not going anywhere.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
3 people found this helpful.
age 8+

Am i the only one?

I really like this movie, but am i the only one who noticed a statue in the palace made for the Indian prince? The statue was shown from a side view, and i could very clearly see bare breasts. It's quite a quick scene but was i seeing things? Also for any families who may not be happy with kiss scenes, there are 2 in the start between married couples.
2 people found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (29 ):
Kids say (145 ):

Portrayed in broad, cartoonish strokes, the kids' cruelties in the film serve as comedy, though they're not always funny, and each child-parent set reveals its dysfunction. Indeed, the non-Charlie children are so loathsome that their various "punishments" seem deserved. These are staged as song-and-dance numbers by the Oompa Loompas, modeled after scenes that some parents will recall from other venues, for instance, Esther Williams musicals, the Who's guitar-smashing rock shows, Hair, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Fly, and even Tim Burton and Depp's Edward Scissorhands, in Willy's flashbacks to his troubled relationship with his dentist father (Christopher Lee). There are some current-day references, some of which fail miserably (the Oprah appearance comes to mind), while others are merely annoying and serve to break the film's dreamlike power.

The film's strangeness is often fun, in particular Depp's white-faced makeup, frisky line readings (check his explanation: "Everything in this room is eatable; even I'm eatable, but that's called cannibalism and frowned on in most societies"), and weird affect. But the narrative rhythms are uneven, and Charlie, especially, is undeveloped, more an emblem of goodness than a full-on character. While the novel maintains a more or less steady focus through Charlie's perspective of all these crazy goings-on, the film is less coherent. It skips about to cover multiple storylines, including Willy's memories and the four bad children's separate exploits, all eventually pulled together by Charlie's good-boy summary of what matters most, his cozy family.

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