Positive Caution: Read this only if ye have seen the films
The movies Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue were both released in 2005, on July 15th and September 30th respectively, and each referenced popular stories. Despite no similarity or connection to each other, I perceive a personal rivalry between them. After finding the former film disappointing during a screening, I encountered a poster for the latter film while leaving the theatre, prompting me to watch it three weeks later. This experience helped me overcome my disappointment with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Although unrelated, I’ve observed several coincidences in their production and the people involved. However, in my view, Into the Blue will always hold the upper hand against Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
While this document mainly focuses on the seeming similarities between both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue, both films for the most part are sparsely different through the following plots.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The eccentric manufacturer of chocolates and candies, Willy Wonka promotes a tour through his chocolate factory through five golden tickets hidden in the bars of chocolate. Charlie Bucket, a boy who comes from a poor but loving family, finds the last golden ticket and goes on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with his grandpa Joe. Among the other four winners are Veruca Salt, a spoiled rich girl; Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous kid who likes to stuff his face with sweets; Violet Beuragarde, a champion trophy gum chewer; and Mike Teavee, a lad who spends more time watching TV and playing video games than anything else. All of them are competing for a special prize that Wonka has promised them at the end of the tour although Charlie is just interested in the tour.
Into the Blue
Jared Cole and his girlfriend Sam Nicholson are a young couple living in the Bahamas. Jared is an unemployed diver whose dream is to find treasure in the Caribbean Sea like his former employer Derek Bates and Sam works at a local resort as a shark handler. When their best friend Bryce Dunn, a self-centred New York lawyer and his new girlfriend Amanda Collins arrive, the two couples spend a few days experiencing paradise. During one of their dives, they discover an airplane on the sea floor that crashed during a hurricane and they find that its cargo is cocaine. In addition to that, not far from the wreck is another wreck of an ancient ship which still yields its cargo, treasure. In order to get their hands on what the shipwreck bears, Bryce and Amanda foolishly make a deal with a dangerous drug lord Reyes who threatens them to retrieve the cocaine since it belongs to him. With nowhere to turn Jared, Sam, Bryce and Amanda struggle to fight for their survival and to find a way out of their predicament.
- References (and production company)
As mentioned earlier both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue are linked to popular narratives. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a reimagining of the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which is itself an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The novel’s title served as the inspiration for the remake’s title. Gene Wilder, the original actor who portrayed Willy Wonka, expressed scepticism about the remake, suggesting it was driven by financial motives. In contrast, Johnny Depp, who later portrayed Willy Wonka, viewed the film as a new adaptation of the novel. Despite appreciating Depp’s acting, Wilder chose not to watch the film as he could not connect with it and did not want to be disappointed in Depp who he admired. In his later years, Wilder considered the film an affront.Into the Blue is a remake of the 1977 movie The Deep which is in turn based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Peter Benchley (1940-2006) who is best known as the author of the bestselling 1973/74 book that inspired the blockbuster 1975 film Jaws. The film may also have borrowed inspiration from Subterfuge (1996)The authors of the books that indirectly inspired both films have passed away. However, the directors
of both films, Tim Burton and John Stockwell, respectively, seem to have denied that their films are remakes. Ironically, Richard D. Zanuck one of the producers of Jaws was also the producer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Another ironical twist is that Noah Taylor who plays Mr Buckett in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had starred with Jessica Alba, the lead actress of Into the Blue in The Sleeping Dictionary which released in 2003, two years before the release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue.
Also when Burton’s second Batman movie Batman Returns was released in 1992 (three years after the release of the first Batman film), Scott Caan who starred in Into the Blue accompanied his father, veteran actor James Caan to the movie’s premiere. A little-known fact is that Burton was so impressed by Paul Walker‘s performance (as Brian O’Conner) in The Fast and the Furious (2001) and its 2003 sequel that he offered him the role of Willy Wonka but Walker turned it down to star in Into the Blue. While Johnny Depp had always been the first choice for the role given his close relationship with Burton that dates all the way back to 1990, Dwayne Johnson was Burton’s second choice in case Depp could not do the role. Michael Keaton and Christopher Walken were considered for the role at one point and interestingly both actors have been part of Burton’s Batman films with Keaton playing the role of the titular hero in both of Burton’s films about the caped crusader and Walken playing a villain in the second film although his character was an original one and not from the comics. It is co-incidence that Stockwell’s film Blue Crush released the year that Batman Returns celebrated its 10th Anniversary.In 1992, Tim Burton’s second Batman movie, Batman Returns, was released, three years after the first film. At its premiere, Scott Caan, who acted in Into the Blue, attended alongside his father, James Caan. Interestingly, Tim Burton considered Paul Walker’s performance in The Fast and the Furious and its sequel impressive, offering him the role of Willy Wonka. However, Walker declined in favour of Into the Blue. While Johnny Depp was initially Burton’s top choice due to their long-standing relationship, Dwayne Johnson stood as the backup if Depp could not take the role. Michael Keaton and Christopher Walken were also considered at one point. Keaton had portrayed the titular hero in both of Burton’s Batman films, while Walken played a unique villain in the second movie who was not in the comics. Strangely, the release of John Stockwell’s film Blue Crush coincided with the 10th Anniversary of Batman Returns and it was due to that very movie that Walker accepted Into the Blue when approached by Stockwell.
(Sir) Anthony Hopkins who turned down the role of Charlie’s Grandfather Joe to star in The World’s Fastest Indian, directed by Roger Donaldson (known for the alien-thriller Species released a decade earlier) which was an autobiographical film about New Zealand motorcyclist Burt Munro (1899-1978) which also released the same year as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue. The role of Grandpa Joe would eventually be played by David Kelly after Burton saw him in the 1998 comedy Waking Ned (Devine) directed by Kirk Jones.Another example of an actor refusing a role in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was (Sir) Anthony Hopkins who turned down the role of Charlie’s Grandfather Joe. Instead, he chose to star in The World’s Fastest Indian, directed by Roger Donaldson, an autobiographical film about New Zealand motorcyclist Burt Munro (1899-1978). This film was released the same year as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue. Eventually, David Kelly took on the role of Grandpa Joe after Burton saw him in the 1998 comedy Waking Ned (Devine), directed by Kirk Jones.
It may or may not be necessary to say that the year of both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue came Batman Begins (a month before the former film and three months before the latter) which was unrelated to Burton’s Batman films and showcased how Bruce Wayne became Batman. Burton was impressed with the film which was directed by Christopher Nolan and so too was the original Batman, Michael Keaton (who was succeeded by Christian Bale in the new Batman film), both of whom said that Nolan ‘really captured what Batman is like according to the comics’. The film was followed by The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), all of which form a saga known as ‘The Dark Knight trilogy’ making Bale the only actor to have played Batman longer than Keaton.It is worth mentioning that the year of both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue saw the release of Batman Begins. This happened a month before the former film and three months before the latter. This new Batman film was not connected to Burton’s Batman films and depicted Bruce Wayne’s transformation into Batman. Both Burton and the original Batman actor, Michael Keaton, were impressed by Christopher Nolan’s direction. Much like Burton, Keaton, who was succeeded by Christian Bale as the new Batman, stated that Nolan truly captured the essence of Batman from the comics. This film was followed by The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), collectively known as The Dark Knight trilogy, establishing Bale as the actor who portrayed Batman for a longer period than Keaton.
Just like his other films, Burton released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory through Warner Bros, which has been producing the Batman film series ever since acquiring the comics’ rights in 1979. Meanwhile, Stockwell made his debut with MGM Pictures and Mandalay Productions. Interestingly, both companies’ logos feature animals – a Lion and a Tiger respectively. This might lead one to speculate that the presence of these big cats could inadvertently overshadow Batman’s popularity. It is conceivable that Batman drew inspiration from the allure of prominent big cats, leveraging their connection with human emotions such as fear (transforming into bravery), respect, and mutual admiration, ultimately highlighting that the true hero might not be Batman, but rather the symbolic Lion (and the Tiger).
± - Genre and length
Both films are relatively short with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory up to 115 minutes and Into the Blue up to 110 minutes.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a family film that combines fantasy and comedy. In contrast,Into the Blue is an adult movie catering to both teenagers and adults, featuring action, thriller, and romance elements. While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory includes musical sequences, Into the Blue lacks such scenes and has a more serious tone in spite of an adventurous one. Narration is present in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by an Oompa-Loompa, voiced by the late Geoffrey Holder, whereas Into the Blue only has a single flashback narration from one of the main characters.± - History of the films
While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory involves flashbacks (from the point of view of Willy Wonka), Into the Blue is told chronologically.
Unlike the 1971 rendition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the 2005 film remains faithful to Roald Dahl’s book that inspired both adaptations, albeit with certain new alterations. This involves presenting Willy Wonka’s history as the son of an overprotective dentist, Wilbur Wonka. Wilbur’s strictness, including the prohibition of candy consumption, drives Willy to escape and fulfill his ambition of becoming a chocolatier. This event catalyses the subsequent storyline narrated from Charlie’s perspective.
In contrast, Into the Blue diverges from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by adopting a linear narrative without employing flashbacks. The story opens with a drug-laden aircraft crashing into the sea, initiating the plot as seen through Jared’s eyes. Alongside his girlfriend Sam, they stumble upon the wreckage, leading them into conflict with various parties searching for the drugs. However, one pivotal scene features Jared, Bryce, and Amanda retrieving a drug shipment from the sunken plane due to threats from the drug dealer Reyes. While examining an ancient locket during this sequence, Jared recalls a past conversation with Sam about choosing between treasure and love, although this moment lacks a formal flashback.
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- Previous Connection
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie’s grandfather Joe, who is Charlie’s maternal grandfather, tells his grandson that he used to work for Willy Wonka during the candyman’s early days and the establishment of the chocolate factory. However, he had to leave due to industrial espionage issues that affected other workers as well. In the case of Into the Blue, Jared was formerly employed by salvager and treasure hunter Derek Bates. However, he departed to pursue his own endeavors, even going so far as to intentionally get fired from Scubabob, a scuba diving company, after disputing clashing against his boss and causing embarrassment.
Both Charlie and Jared, who are not wealthy, spend their time daydreaming about their desires. Charlie hopes to discover a golden ticket hidden among five chocolate bars, granting him a tour of Wonka’s chocolate factory. Meanwhile, Jared seeks treasures from 17th-century shipwrecks. When they both find their respective prizes—a golden ticket for Charlie and gold for Jared—Charlie enjoys a factory tour, whereas Jared’s discovery of a drug-filled plane puts him and his friends in danger. They are threatened by the plane’s former owners to return the drugs. Eventually, they confront the conspirators and succeed in emerging victorious.
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- Symbolism
Both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue appear to be synonymous with a particular theme; while the former is symbolic of candy, particularly chocolate, the latter film is set around treasure hunting in the ocean although it is more to do with the ocean itself.
Candy, specifically chocolate and gum, which are recurring elements in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have brief appearances in Into the Blue. Bates chews gum during his initial encounter with Sam and Jared, who are in a romantic situation. Later, he distributes chocolates to schoolchildren on a workplace tour of his station. Additionally, one of his associates, dressed as a pirate, entertains the children—a nod to Disney’s 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean, mentioned by Amanda. This also connects to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as Johnny Depp, who portrayed Willy Wonka, played the lead role (Captain Jack Sparrow) in the Disneyland ride-inspired film.
Contrastingly, in the inventing room in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there is the introduction of gobstoppers – tasty yet unchewable candies. Once these candies are completed, they are placed in a water pool. Willy Wonka educates the group about them, with a focus on Violet. Within this pool, Oompa-Loompas scuba dive, retrieving a few gobstoppers. One Oompa-Loompa surfaces with a gobstopper, presenting it to Wonka for the guests. The theme of scuba diving recurs in the movie Into the Blue, performed by both the protagonists and antagonists.
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- Working for a top man
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka after years of beginning his career as a candymaker, goes on to be the owner of a chocolate factory that he has made on his own. After some of his workers are revealed to be spies from rival candy companies who have stolen his recipes that are secret, he fires them and later goes onto replace them with Oompa-Loompas whom he meets and hires in their own homeland. The two villains of Into the Blue, (Derek) Bates and Reyes respectively are both drug traders and both are the captains of their very own ferry, although Bates’ ferry is actually called by a name the ‘Sea Robin’. Still, much like the Oompa-Loompas and Wonka, both Bates’ and Reyes’ men are very loyal to them, even when they and their bosses are defeated by the heroes although in the case of Wonka while the Oompa-Loompas continue their service to him at the end, they have a new person in addition who leads them, Charlie (Buckett). Most employees in Into the Blue are seen in the service of evil people although the only exception is the start when Jared is working for the scuba diving company Scubabob but is fired when he and his boss get into a dispute and he insults the latter by pushing him into the sea after Jared finishes a diving tour.
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- Famous Family Connections
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue both have connection with someone from a famous family in regards to production of each film but regarding Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this is more when Tim Burton took consultancy from the former wife of Roald Dahl, Felicity (in order) to not only bring her husband’s novel to life for the second time but also to release the film from its delayed production in the 1990s due to the protection of its source material by the Dahl family by which Felicity was willing to give Burton the rights since he understood how her father’s work was. In Into the Blue, two of the actors, Josh Brolin (who plays Bates) and Scott Caan (who plays Bryce) are sons of famous actors and coincidently both of whom go by the name James (and both of whom were born in 1940 which also happens to be the birthyear of Peter Benchley who wrote the book that inspired The Deep which Into the Blue is a remake of) although their sons never actually shared screen space in the film.
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- Collaborations with composers
Both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue involve their directors continuing to collaborate with a composer who has worked on most of their films. Tim Burton the director of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory continues his collaboration with composer Danny Elfman who earlier worked with him on the Batman films as well as his debut Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985) which launched (both) their professional and personal relationship while John Stockwell the director of Into the Blue continues his collaboration with composer Paul Haslinger who had earlier worked with him on Cheaters (2000) and Blue Crush. While Elfman wrote several songs for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, including a theme song for Willy Wonka, other musical artists contributed songs to Into the Blue such as Ziggy Marley (son of Bob Marley), Holly Palmer and Jimmy Cliff. German DJ Paul Van Dyk also contributed to the film’s soundtrack through a song he released two years before the film. It is interesting to note that Palmer and Dyk were both born in 1971, when the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory released.
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- Consequences
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka is forced to fire several of his employees due to other chocolate makers such as Fickelgruber, Prodnose and Slugworth sending in spies to steal Wonka’s secret recipes for their own use, prompting him to close his chocolate factory. In Into the Blue, the plane carrying drugs belongs to crime lord Reyes who is thought to be the real villain until it is revealed that he and Bates were business partners in the drug dealing and he tried to cut Bates out of the deal, which eventually leads Bates to kill him and his entire party though in the case of the former film, the consequences are simply Wonka firing his workers while in the latter film, murder is involved in the drug dealing by Bates of Reyes so that Reyes does not reach the drugs.
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- Temptation
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, most of the children who individually find each golden ticket in a separate chocolate bar are not well-meaning. Augustus Gloop is obese due to eating too much chocolate, Verruca Salt is spoilt by her father, Violet Beauregarde is a gum-chewing champion and Mike Teavee is a video-game addicted boy. Unlike these four children, Charlie is poor but polite and has good intentions. He finds the last ticket by co-incidence although during the tour of Wonka’s chocolate factory, the children each give into temptations of what the factory has to offer and get into trouble; Augustus tries to drink from a chocolate river and falls in only to be sucked up by a pipe that carries the chocolate away for strawberry-flavoured chocolate fudge production, Violet chews on an unfinished gum which serves as a three-course meal that Wonka invented and inflates into a blue form, Verruca tries to forcefully buy a squirrel from Wonka’s collection of trained but unsalable squirrels and gets thrown by them down a garbage chute where they throw uneatable nuts and Mike projects himself onto a television using a projector intended for transporting chocolate. This leaves Charlie as the winner of the tour. In Into the Blue, Jared dreams of finding buried treasure, especially when he and his girlfriend Sam are visited by their childhood friend Bryce and his girlfriend Amanda. While diving on the day Bryce and Amanda arrive in the Bahamas, they come across buried treasure items and by an unfortunate co-incidence, later find the plane full of drugs although this throws them into difficult and unrewarding situations regarding the people who the drugs belong to. Bryce and Amanda also get into trouble when they try to sell some of the cocaine to club owner Primo and his boss Reyes (for money in trying to retrieve the treasure from the shipwreck not far from the plane) and they and Jared are forced to retrieve the rest of the cocaine. While Jared unwillingly helps them, Bryce and Amanda believe that doing what the drug lord asks of them will help them find the treasure they seek. However in the midst of retrieving the cocaine, Amanda is killed by a tiger shark and later on, Reyes and Primo are killed by Bates who wants the cocaine for himself since Reyes tried to cut Bates out of the deal which is what led the latter to kill the former although Bates is later defeated by Jared who (6 weeks later) with Sam and Bryce come upon sunken treasure of the wrecked ship the Zephyr.
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- Moments of obesity
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory there are instances of obesity; one is Augustus Gloop, one of the five finders of the five golden tickets who eats tremendous amounts of chocolate (his mother and father too seem quite fat). The second occurs when Violet Beauregarde defiantly chews on an unfinished piece of gum that Wonka is inventing as a three-course meal of breakfast, lunch and dinner and inflates into a giant blue form before being rolled off to have its juice squeezed out of her. In Into the Blue, an instance of obesity occurs shortly after the opening when Jared is leading a diving tour and one member of the tourist group appears to be rather fat and needs Jared’s help while diving. Among crime lord Reyes’ crew is a man who appears to be rather fat although he could simply be muscular instead.
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- Working with animals
While Willy Wonka’s trained squirrels that swarm Verruca for trying to kidnap one of them in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were trained animals thanks to forming relations with their human carers at birth and learning how to break walnuts, the sharks in Into the Blue were of course not trained animals and therefore a careful eye had to be kept on them during filming so that they would not cause trouble to the cast and the cast would not give them trouble although the shark attacks in the film were done by CGI (computer-generated imagery) and by and large the sharks despite being used to hand feeding would not attack humans but it was still important for the cast and crew that if the sharks got too close, they had to gently push them away with their hands in case the inquisitiveness of the sharks could lead to biting. A little-known fact is that a tiger shark was captured by the production (of Into the Blue) and Jessica Alba (who played Sam) was asked by the director to get into a cage in the water which contained the shark by. Jessica refused on the grounds of fear and of animal cruelty, thus the shark was released although in the final film, Jessica’s character had little-to-no shark interaction save for the opening scene as a feeder of nurse sharks at the ‘Atlantis’ theme park. The reason for the shark being caught for her to interact with in the first place was because her character, Sam was supposed to be killed off by a shark initially during the climax but the cast and crew objected to the idea, especially since Jessica’s characters in her previous films had never been killed off and she was just starting to emerge as a leading actress (following Honey in 2003 which was her breakthrough) and so following the shark’s release, the only hero character who would be killed off by a shark was not Sam but Amanda (played by Ashley Scott) who had led the heroes into hard circumstances by retrieving drugs for the sake of money to find buried treasure in the ocean. Both films do depict an animal attack on a woman but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is simply the squirrels swarming Verruca for trying to steal one of them and pushing her to the floor and down a garbage chute where they are throwing bad nuts into while Into the Blue shows a tiger shark actually attacking Amanda during her retrieval of the drugs with Jared and Bryce (although while the shark is only seen coming towards her, she is attacked by him off-screen, especially in one shot where she is being dragged by him into the depths and she tries to cling onto the wrecked plane to alert Bryce before being dragged away and still, the shark is not shown, even after she is rescued by Bryce and Jared to no avail). It is co-incidence only that both situations are to do with thievery, except Verruca was defiant and insistent on getting one of Wonka’s squirrels for her own which resulted in her getting assaulted by them while Amanda and Bryce had created their own situation by retrieving drugs from the plane and selling them to drug lord Reyes hoping that they would be able to get enough money to retrieve the treasure of the shipwreck Zephyr close to the planewreck which resulted in him threatening them and Jared to get back his drugs as those belonged to him in the first place. Also no bodily harm is done to Verruca despite her getting assaulted by Wonka’s squirrels while Amanda is badly bitten by the shark that attacks her and dies from it. Later on however, the sharks seem to attack the villains during Bates’ pursuit of Jared to prevent him from reaching Bates’ drugs (which he wishes to obtain after killing Reyes for it) and while Jared and Bryce fight Bates’ men, one of Bates’ men is killed by a shark when Jared hits him in the eye with a hook to save Bryce, drawing blood which lures several sharks to rip that man apart. A shark also unintentionally saves Sam from Bates’ main man Quinn when the two are fighting in the ocean and while he tries to drown her, the shark rams his teeth into Quinn (having been drawn by his wounded fingers inflicted upon him by Sam who jammed his hand in a door before he got loose), allowing Sam to escape before she rescues Jared shortly after his defeat of Bates. Perhaps the only similarity between this scene and that of the squirrels assaulting Veruca is the animals attacking people who are not well meaning although unlike Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, bloodshed does take place in Into the Blue as a result of animal attacks. All said and done though, animal interaction in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is mainly in a playful sense such as sheering a pink sheep for her cotton candy wool (except where a cow is whipped by Oompa-Loompas for literally making whipped cream) while animal interaction in Into the Blue is in a more serious sense (except for Jared’s friendly dog who ironically is the real pet of the man who played Jared, Paul Walker).
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- The Gold Connection
Much as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory revolves around finding golden tickets in chocolate bars, Into the Blue revolves around finding actual treasure although the golden tickets are not actual gold. In the latter film, Jared, Sam, Bryce and Amanda find various elements belonging to an old pirate ship and inspect them when they get the items to shore to find out how old they are. This historical treasure references another film starring Johnny Depp (the portrayer of Willy Wonka), Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean which is also mentioned in the film.
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- Clues
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, candy, particularly chocolate serves as clues as to getting closer to Wonka’s chocolate factory being sought by every person including Charlie. In Into the Blue, cocaine serves as getting closer to the treasure being sought by the lead characters including Jared although before that, Jared, Sam, Bryce and Amanda during treasure hunting, manage to retrieve several artefacts near the wrecked ship they have discovered which are related to that wreck.
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- An Unknown Fate
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gives no indication or confirmation as to the fate of the other children who like Charlie entered the factory but were not well meaning and unlike Charlie, ended up in embarrassing situations because their temptation got the better of them. The last the audience sees of them, Augustus is covered with chocolate while leaving the factory with his mother because of falling in the chocolate river, Violet leaves in a blue form with her mother due to the gum she chewed on, Verucca and her father are covered in trash as they walk out due to Verruca trying to steal one of Wonka’s squirrels and being forced down a garbage chute and Mr Teavee while walking out is accompanied by his son Mike who is stretched to a tall height due to using a teleporter to transfer himself to a television where chocolate is meant to go. This results in Charlie becoming the owner of the factory and coming to live there with his family moving into the factory, thanks to Wonka who is moved by the boy helping him reunite with Wonka’s estranged (dentist) father. A similar situation occurs in Into the Blue but this concerns both people and boats. Bates’ business partner in the drug deal Reyes as well as his entire party are killed by Bates aboard Reyes’ boat. Following the murder which is discovered by Primo and Memo both of whom are killed by Bates and his men who nearly capture Jared after he discovers this series of events, Reyes’ boat is never seen again. Bates’ ferry, the Sea Robin is also not seen after Bates and his men are defeated by Jared, thanks to Sam and Danny (as well as Bryce). Also, it is unknown whether or not the police party that the (reluctantly) corrupt cop Roy (who is a friend of Jared and Sam) led, ever managed to solve the entire crime involving the drug conspiracy since they are never seen again either, only making two appearances, one when nearly discovering Jared, Sam and Bryce’s attempted retrieval of buried treasure close to the sunken plane and find Amanda sunbathing before investigating Jared’s boat and later following Amanda’s death at the jaws of a tiger shark, Sam going to talk to Roy about hers and Jared’s predicament before Roy leads Sam to Bates who kills him when he requests Bates to give leniency for Sam and takes her hostage, prompting Jared and Bryce as well as Jared’s friend Danny to lead a rescue of Sam following which they confront and defeat Bates and his men.
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- Wrecks
Both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue contain a wrecked element that becomes a recurring theme through each story; the former film bears the Bucket house which is not in a very good state while the latter film bears a sunken plane involved in the drug conspiracy. The difference is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory does not show how Charlie’s house came to be in such a poor state while Into the Blue shows how the plane ended up crashing into the sea while attempting to deliver the drugs it was carrying. Unlike Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Into the Blue contains three wrecks, two being under the sea (the drug plane and the ancient wreck) and one on land which is Jared’s old boat. Also while the house is (probably) moved to the chocolate factory at the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the plane explodes at the climax of Into the Blue during a confrontation between Jared and Bates wherein the former dodges a harpoon from the latter’s gun and sets a scuba tank firing into the controls of the plane which results in it exploding and killing Bates while Jared escapes and is rescued by Sam. Ironically, much as the Bucket house is located not too far from the Chocolate Factory the wrecked plane is located not too far from another wreck, the 17th-Century ship the Zephyr in although in the case of the former film, the house is not in a good shape while in the latter film the plane like the ancient ship is a wreck despite the former being more than a hundred years older than the latter. Also, while Charlie and the Chocolate Factory does not actually show Willy Wonka telling Charlie that his family can move into the factory with them (and is only told in the narration), Into the Blue also does not show how Sam rescues Jared in the climax of the film.
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- A Climactic Prize
The ending of both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue seem to end on a prize falling into the hands of both leading characters in the end. At the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie wins the chance to come to live in the chocolate family of Willy Wonka who initially does not allow Charlie’s family to come with them believing they will not allow their son to do what he wants. This is mainly born out of the notion that as a child, Willy was forbidden to eat candy by his dentist father Wilbur and ran away, loathing parents and families. Although Charlie refuses to come to the factory at first if his family cannot come with him, he helps Willy reunite with his father who learns to accept his son for who he is and not what he does for a living. This moves Willy so much that he allows Charlie’s family to come to live with Charlie in the factory. In Into the Blue, six weeks after the defeat of Bates and his men by Jared, Sam and Bryce as well as their friend Danny, Jared and Sam with the help of Danny and Bryce try to retrieve belongings of the legendary ship known as the Zephyr although it proves to be too heavy. Jared, despite wanting to find treasure for years, remembers a conversation he had with his girlfriend Sam about giving up treasure for love and realizes that his love is more important to him than treasure. Bryce, who is unwilling to give up, dives down to the wreck and finds (the) gold (of the Zephyr).
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- Directors and Locations
Both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue are films by American directors but they are set out of the United States. The location of the former film however is ambiguous (although believed to be somewhere in the United Kingdom) in addition to featuring scenes from the U.K, Japan, Germany and the U.S.A (as well as Morocco) while the latter film is set in the Bahamas. Half the time, the environment of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is snowy while in Into the Blue, the ocean is seen almost all the time. Also while Tim Burton, the director of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is known for gothic films, John Stockwell, the director of Into the Blue is known for romantic films or films to do with the ocean.
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- Sequel
Following the release of the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film titled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971, the studio was interested in making the book’s sequel into a movie but Roald Dahl the author who did not approve of the adaptation of his book, denied the studio the rights to make a sequel of the second book. However, Tim Burton’s version of the book has never seen a sequel based on the second book. Into the Blue had a sequel in 2009 known as The Reef but with no connection to the first film, instead featuring a new cast (as well as a new director, producer and composer) and only the same themes and situations of the first film are present in the second film (which takes place in Hawaii) although both the novel and the film The Deep never had a sequel. Both of the above instances seem an indirect mirror event to another instance related to Peter Benchley, the man who wrote the book that became The Deep which Into the Blue is a remake of although this is related to films based on novels that never saw sequels which were based on books by the original author. After Benchley wrote his bestselling novel Jaws and following the success of its movie adaptation in 1975, Benchley decided not to write a sequel novel, much as Steven Spielberg who brought the novel to life through film refused offers to direct another Jaws film and ironically, the film itself saw sequels, none of which he (or Spielberg) participated in; Jaws 2 (1978) was directed by French film director Jeannot Szwarc while Jaws 3-D (1983) was directed by Joe Alves who was production designer on the first two Jaws films (in addition to being a second unit director for the second film). The third and final sequel Jaws: The Revenge (1987) had no any involvement from (any of) the crew or producers from the previous films and showed no continuity from the third film, instead picking up from the second (by irony most of the film takes place in the Bahamas where Into the Blue is set, featuring very little of the fictional Amity Island which played a major role in the first two Jaws films as it did in the novel which became the first movie). All (the) three sequels failed to match the success of the original film although the fourth and final film got the most negative reviews and (apart from it being regarded as one of the worst movies ever made) its failure was a further reference to The Island (1980) that was based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Benchley, given that both these films starred (Sir) Michael Caine and had failed miserably, a similar pattern (unrelated to failure) happening with The Deep itself where Robert Shaw who was one of the three leads of Jaws (alongside Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss) also starred alongside Louis Gossett Jr. who would later be part of Jaws 3-D. The first two sequels to Jaws made a good profit despite mixed reviews and negative reviews for the second and third film respectively but in the third film, none of the actors from the first two films are involved. Much like Jaws 3-D saw action in SeaWorld, Into the Blue also saw action in an aquatic theme park known as ‘Atlantis’ but unlike the former, the plot of latter was not restricted only (or mainly) to the theme park since the third Jaws film was set at SeaWorld during major sequences, particularly action while Into the Blue was not set in Atlantis and had only minor scenes there. Jaws like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also went through near-development hell in terms of screenwriting although the latter only happened due to multiple rewrites and the protection of the source material by Roald Dahl’s family while the former went through various directors who were not considered a match for making the film until Spielberg was chosen yet making the movie itself was an arduous and near painstaking process due to near-accidents and the mechanical shark malfunctioning due to the ocean although the film was fortunately completed with commitment, patience and dedication. Yet Jaws was not entirely under development hell unlike Into the Blue or moreover Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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- Premiere, Release and Ratings
Both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Into the Blue were released in 2005 although Charlie and the Chocolate Factory released in the month of July while Into the Blue released in the month of September. Both had press conferences involving the main cast a month before the films released although Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had three conferences in London, Tokyo and the United States and Tim Burton, the film’s director was present at/for all of them alongside the main stars, Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore (the portrayer of Charlie Buckett) and David Kelly as well as producer Richard Zanuck (although Kelly did not attend the American press conference) while Into the Blue had just one press conference (In the United States) and the only ones to promote the film there were three of the leads, Paul Walker, Jessica Alba and Ashley Scott. Both films also had their premieres in Los Angeles, yet Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had its premiere at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre while Into the Blue had its premiere at the Mann’s Village Theatre. Interestingly, the carpets for both premieres were the colour of the respective film’s themes; the carpet for the former film was made to look like chocolate while the carpet for the latter film was made to look like the ocean. Both the films’ premieres were covered by journalist Scott Huver although unlike Into the Blue, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also had premieres in Tokyo, Paris and London. While Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was rated PG in the United States and the same for its release in New Zealand and Singapore, Into the Blue was given a PG-13 rating in the United States, an M Rating in New Zealand and a PG in Singapore. In the United Kingdom, especially Ireland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory received a PG while Into the Blue got a 15. It is unknown if either film released in Kenya or Southern Africa and it is (also) not known if (both) the movies came to Thailand as well.
The End
Great write up 👍