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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Danny Elfman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you desire small doses of Danny Elfman's majestic
side that trade in the electric bass for a large bass string section and
return to the magic of his early works, even if this material exists in
the minority of the score's wild ride.
Avoid it... if a certain continuation of schizophrenia in Elfman's style, especially in the inclusion of songs featuring the composer as a human kazoo, leaves you seeking other scores in which to hear his more consistently raw emotional tendencies.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: (Danny Elfman)
Despite Tim Burton's best intentions to once again enter the imaginative
world of a child, the release of his remake of the famous Roald Dahl
book happened to coincide with the spotlight of Michael Jackson's 2005
child molestation court case. And, of course, it doesn't help that
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about a reclusive adult who
creates a "neverland" in the form of a chocolate factory, invites select
kids into his playground, and, oh yeah, seems to have the same wardrobe
designer and make-up artist as Michael Jackson himself. Despite those
awkward connections, nearly everything about Burton's Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory was a success, including a faithful adaptation of
the book and the spectacular visuals, and the film steamrolled to tasty
financial delights for the studio that topped Burton's career best. But
then there was lead actor Johnny Depp in the title role, so suspiciously
similar to Michael Jackson in appearance, mannerism, and setting. No
matter how many times he and Burton assured audiences that his
performance as Willy Wonka was only coincidentally similar to Jackson,
there remained the cloud of Jackson's perversity over this film for
adults. Children likely wouldn't care, for the film tackles Dahl's
material in the same general, enticing musical form as the 1971 Gene
Wilder film adaption of the book. The collaboration between Tim Burton
and Danny Elfman had spanned three decades and nearly a dozen films as
of 2005, and by this time there was no doubt in any critic's mind that
these two men are operating on the same creative wavelength. Both enjoy
portrayals of reclusive, alienated, or otherwise troubled characters in
abnormally colorful and outlandish surroundings (especially if shrunken
head or whole shrunken people are involved), and Wonka's world is well
served by both. For Elfman, 2005 represented a return to the realm of
the musical, finally touching upon the magic that had brought him so
much residual success with The Nightmare Before Christmas,
working concurrently on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and
Corpse Bride (but never really recapturing the truly unique
spirit of the Pumpkin King).
Elfman roots the musical center of his score and songs for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the Oompa Loompas, the freaky army of workers loyal to Wonka's operations, and when not producing chocolate, these little guys seem to have been studying Bollywood and the history of music from around the world in their free time. It is their songs that open the album, and their jungle-like music that occupies the flair in the soundtrack's latter half. The opening song on the album, "Wonka's Welcome Song," written originally for a trailer to the film, is a "happy worker," Pee-wee-inspired piece that, if not for the elf-like manipulation of multiple Elfman vocal performances, would remind of the insufferably bright and positive "be happy" music from THX 1138 (now there's a creepy thought). The following four songs represent the children who are to be punished by Wonka throughout their tour, and as they are performed in silly rock band numbers by the Oompa Loompas, these songs also feature Elfman as the sole performer, requiring the talented singer to record endless overlays and have a fair number of them manipulated in pitch. The structure and genre of the songs vary appropriately for each character's flaws, from the Bollywood big band number for the gluttonous kid, the Bohemian rhapsody for the video gamer, and 1970's-era funky street-cool dance piece for the competitive gum-chewer, to the overly simplistic chord progressions of the 1960's ballad for the spoiled brat. All of them contain underlying references to the Bollywood connection, reportedly an original intent by Elfman and Burton that carries through in the Indian influences that reveal themselves to various degrees in each song. Since the Oompa Loompas are played by the same actor and therefore should have multiple performances of the same voice in various counterpoints, Elfman's performances all exist in the same sort of whiny pitch that is best described as a "human kazoo." While necessary, the most unfortunate aspect of these performances is the fact that we never hear Elfman's fantastic natural singing voice (in fact, only rarely can you even identify one of the voices as his), and the human kazoo effect is extremely annoying at times. Thus, however clever the songs are in structure, the outrageously layered vocal performances cause them to become unbearable in pitch. Using outlandish songs as an accent to a production, as was the case in Flubber, can work wonders with Elfman's score material, but in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the songs traverse far too close to the poppy Spy Kids culture of cross-genre wildness that detracts from the score. Then again, as needs be mentioned in reference to both this score and Corpse Bride later in 2005, an admiration of Elfman's talents is a basic given in these kinds of projects. In this film, it is the score that will keep his fans more entertained than the genre-busting songs. Any opportunity for Elfman to score a film that contains a sense of magical alternate realities is an opportunity not to be missed, and in this half of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Elfman's fans will not be disappointed. Even without the lengthy expressions of raw emotional power that made scores like Edward Scissorhands such an attraction, this music is a fine work of execution that contains just enough easy harmony to hold the interest of even casual Elfman collectors. His title theme for the factory is robust, appearing several times throughout the large-scale orchestral score. In the titles, the theme is unfortunately partially blocked out by electronics, kazoo vocals, regular vocals, and light percussive tingling used as counterpoint (perhaps a few more horns and trombones would have helped), but subsequent performances, including the outset of "Wheels in Motion," are a little more transparent. There are a couple of interesting aspects to this theme, first in its extremely long-lined phrases that suggest the rolling machinery of a factory and second in the latter half of the theme's similarity to vintage John Williams suspense melodies. After delving into the musical worlds of East India (the sitar in "The Indian Palace" stands out) and the jungle drum rhythms of the Loompas (in which these guys really do sound like stereotypical island natives, complete with clanging metal while they're rowing on the river), Elfman reduces the use of synthetic manipulation and the electric bass in favor of straight forward orchestral action in the latter half. The second "River Cruise" cue has distinct rhythmic elements from Jerry Goldsmith's work, and don't be surprised if the strings in this cue remind you of The 'Burbs. A continuing Planet of the Apes technique is heard in the slurring of electronic tones in "Chocolate Explorers," a move that adds a seemingly appropriate edge of mechanical mystery to the proceedings. A number of elements in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory connect back to his fan favorites from the 1990's. The use of organ and occasional "la-la" vocals will recall some of the deep theatrics of the Penguin's material in Batman Returns. Elfman's magical high-range choral techniques are combined with factory rhythms of deep brass and snare to often form outstanding crescendos of harmony rarely heard in his scores of this era. This, along with a minor-third rhythm that sometimes precedes the main factory theme, are both foreshadowing of better development in Alice in Wonderland. The finale cue may not feature Elfman's best culmination of emotional, Edward Scissorhands-like majesty in the 2000's (Family Man still proves superior in this area) and a few of the chord progressions are remarkably familiar, but the tenderness is neatly satisfying. The end credits track features the instrumental backgrounds for the five songs at the start in snapshot succession, with an abrupt stop and a Loompa group giggle at the end, a somewhat disappointing neglecting of the score's various ideas. In general, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a very strong effort from Elfman, with an increase of quality as the soundtrack's album progresses. His niche in this fantasy genre was even more strongly affirmed, increasing anticipation for subsequent collaborations with Burton. Still, there are several flaws in this work, including Elfman's continuing loss of the ability to present his schizophrenic styles in convincing narrative fashion to the older generation of score collectors, with perhaps his replacement of bass strings with an electric bass serving as the symbolic divider (when he does use deep bass strings in this score, it begins to flourish). The electric bass for Elfman sounds best for projects of modern funk like Men in Black and sucks some of the magic out of cues when used in the comparatively classical applications of fantasy. Both are used here, but the bass strings take over for all the pertinent, fully orchestral statements of theme. Because of the mechanical nature of the factory, the score is once again a rhythmically driven affair, leaving the long strokes of heartbreaking themes waiting for another day (Alice in Wonderland, more specifically). Both "Charlie Declines" and "Finale" go through all the motions of Elfman's preparations for a massive crescendo of melody, including tingling piano, bells, and plucked strings, but they never transcend to the levels his fans inevitably want to hear. Also detracting from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are a few curiosities involving the songs, which despite their technical ingenuity, are a difficult listening experience. For instance, where's Charlie's song? Certainly, his character would be right up the alley for a softer song of lament that Elfman loves to write. Doesn't this seem like a major omission? Also, why aren't the themes from these songs more clearly evident during the character-specific moments in the underscore? The connection between songs and score is weak at best, and Elfman later confirmed that a conscious effort was made to completely segregate the two halves of the soundtrack. The original 2005 album from Warner included 54 minutes of material but did somewhat short-change the score, with a few notable cues absent from that release. In 2011, Elfman collectors were presented with "The Danny Elfman and Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box," a collection of music in the collaboration (reviewed separately at Filmtracks) that includes one CD of expanded treatment specifically for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and several demos and worktapes on other CDs showing the evolution of the songs along their journey through production. About twenty additional minutes of score is included on CD #11 of that set, sadly not in chronological order but finally filling the holes in the commercial album's presentation. Interestingly, none of this material really sheds more light on the primary theme in the score, instead acting mostly as a somewhat nebulous collection of filler cues. There are a few choral cues of interest in this newly released assembly, including "Charlie's Jackpot," "Moms and Dads," and "Escape to Fudge Mountain." The optimistic duo of "The One and Only" and "The Better Montage" is also worthy of consideration. Outside of "Chocolate River," though, Elfman doesn't provide more elaboration on the Loompa material. Cues like "Violet's Transformation" and "Mike's Zapped" lead the majority of music in this section that represents the score's suspenseful half. These bonus tracks desperately needed to be included in a chronological presentation, though at least the massive, $500 set's sound quality for this score still maintains the somewhat wet mix (compared to Elfman's previous scores) of the prior product. In the end, don't let the advertisements of the songs or legacy of this soundtrack as a "musical" fool you. In the case of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it's the substance of the underscore that carries all the weight when the music is separated from the film.
TRACK LISTINGS:
2005 Warner Sunset Album:
Total Time: 54:07
2011 Warner Set: Total Time: 103:56
* previously unreleased
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 2005 Warner Sunset album includes lyrics and extensive
credits, but no extra information about the score or film. The 2011 Warner set
features some notes from Elfman about his choices of music for inclusion on the
product.
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