Crazy for those coca beans.

Eleya and I watched Tim Burton’s quirky but entertaining Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s a miracle of production and set design, visually stunning but thankfully anchored by a nearly perfect performance by Johnny Depp. We agreed that he’s one of the few actors alive with the power to make you completely forget every other role he’s ever played while he’s playing someone else. The pacing retains a little bit of Burton’s signature meandering (not to mention his penchant for static one-shots), but at a 1:45 running time, fortunately there’s not a lot of room for him to get lost. Eeriest effect: the bad kids’ makeup, especially during their introduction scenes. I’m actually not sure whether that was just good makeup work or CGI enhancement, but it just looked creepy. Best line: “Don’t touch that squirrel’s nuts. It’ll make him crazy!”