Stars: Robert Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte, Louis Gossett Jr., Eli Wallach

Director: Peter Yates

Summary: A dramatic and exciting tale of underwater treasure, voodoo and drug smuggling, set in Bermuda.

This visually stunning action-adventure film, based on the best-selling novel by JAWS author Peter Benchley, stars Nick Nolte and Jaqueline Bissett as a couple on a romantic holiday in Bermuda. New Yorkers, David Sanders (Nolte) and Gail Berke (Bissett) are enjoying a much-needed vacation; while diving one day they discover the sunken wreck of a WWII freighter and unearth a gold coin as well as a mysterious glass ampule. Excited, they believe their discovery could be a long lost treasure, but they soon learn that their most valuable discovery is actually an ampule of morphine, one of thousands left behind on the medical supply ship. This discovery leads them into the hands of Henry Cloche (Louis Gossett Jr.), an extremely dangerous and powerful Haitian drug dealer who will stop at nothing to unearth the dangerous treasure. With the help of Romer Treece (Robert Shaw), an old treasure hunter, David and Gail soon realize that they have made a much more important discovery than the morphine and set out to keep their actual treasure a secret. Director Peter Yates's suspenseful film features death-defying dives and exquisite underwater photography. Posters of Bissett underwater in a T-shirt adorned many a dorm wall in the late 1970s.

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Director Tim Burton's take on Roald Dahl's classic story is undeniably more faithful to the source material than the 1975 musical retelling of the same story. His Charlie &The Chocolate Factoryis also a slightly darker, visually inventive film, and is ultimately a tasty treat that the whole family can enjoy.

Filling the coat of Willy Wonka is frequent Burton collaborator Johnny Depp--the pair have previously worked together on the likes of Edward Scissorhands, Ed Woodand Sleepy Hollow--and what fun he clearly had. His Wonka is a kooky, isolated figure, extremely distrusting and clearly uncomfortable around the children who win a golden ticket to look round his factory. Burton invests time in his main character, giving him a rounded back story that pays dividends, and while some will inevitably prefer Gene Wilder's edgier take on the same role all those years ago, Depp nonetheless is on strong form. The cast around him also perform well, particularly Freddie Highmore in the title role.

The story is as you'll likely remember it, with five children given the chance to visit Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. And what a visual treat that factory is, bursting with colour and vibrancy. Along the way, they encounter chocolate lakes, industrious squirrels and the infamous oompa loompas, and truthfully, it's fun to be along for the ride.

Is it better than that aforementioned 1975 version? Actually, it's just different. Each film will no doubt have its legion of fans, but the bottom line here is that Roald Dahl's classic has provided the source for an enjoyable, well pitched movie with plenty of rewatch value. Now if only they'd go and film Charlie &The Great Glass Elevator…--Simon Brew

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Filmographies
Subtitles:	Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1977
Release Date:	June 6, 2005
Runtime:	116 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C 823 500 4
Keywords:	Action, General, Deep, Wide, Screen, Adventure
Genre:	Action/Adventure