The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DVD is loaded with fun features. While most of these are aimed at the film's younger fans, they still offer a fascinating look behind the scenes, especially "Attack of the Squirrels", which reveals how trained animals and special effects magic created the memorable scene in the film. Fans of the author Roald Dahl will particularly enjoy the look at his life and work in "Fantastic Mr. Dahl". “Sweet Sounds” offers an always-welcome look at Danny Elfman’s work as composer.

The games offer varying degrees of fun. Some are pointless, while some are downright addictive. I spent many hours completing the "Search for the Golden Ticket", wearing out my remote hand in the process. The menu design is also simple yet fun.

The only real disappointment is that this is the first Burton release (not counting the original bare bones Warner Bros. DVD's) to not feature any commentary, either by Burton or Elfman. Maybe Burton got tired of talking about all his films, or the DVD was simply rushed into production so quickly that there was no time for it.

Aside from that complaint this is a great looking DVD that will keep both adult and youthful fans amused for hours.

DVD EXTRA FEATURES

The 2-disc Deluxe Edition Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DVD includes the following special features:

Making-of Featurettes:

• Chocolate Dreams: Learn about Tim Burton's vision for the film and how he adapted the story.
• Different Faces, Different Flavors: Meet the actors and learn about the characters they play.
• Designer Chocolate: Learn about the film's production design.
• Under the Wrapper: Go behind the scenes to see how the film's special effects were created.
• Sweet Sounds: Watch the creation of the 4 Oompa-Loompa songs by composer Danny Elfman.
• Attack of the Squirrels: See how real squirrels were trained to perform in the film.
• Fantastic Mr. Dahl: Learn about author Roald Dahl’s life story and extraordinary body of work.
• Becoming Oompa-Loompa: See how one actor, Deep Roy, was turned into a multi talented army of Oompas.

DVD Menu Challenges:

• Oompa-Loompa Dance
• The Inventing Machine
• The Bad Nut
• Search For the Golden Ticket

DVD-ROM (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory PC game demo and web links)

The single disc contains the following special features:

Becoming Oompa-Loompa - see how one man became hundreds of Oompa-Loompas.
Menu Challenge – Oompa-Loompa Dance.

The DVD can be purchased by clicking this link.