Perhaps one of the most fantastical and unconventional movies directed by Tim Burton, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) made waves in the musical as well as fantasy genre. The movie has managed to hold attention of fans for several years due to Burton’s whimsical style and the illustrated plot.
What most fans managed to overlook is a slight connection that exists in this movie with another one of Burton’s masterpieces, Batman (1989). The link is very subtle and can classify as intelligent wordplay or inspired reference.
The hidden plot twist or is it?
In the 1989 Batman movie directed by Tim Burton, one of the major plot lines involves a fictional chemical compound used by Gotham’s notorious bad boy- Joker. This chemical was called ‘smylex’ which supposedly once released in the air could cause people to laugh uncontrollably, eventually causing death.
In typical Joker fashion, the criminal mastermind plans to utilize smylex to force innocent citizens to literally laugh till death, ultimately perishing with a smile on their faces. He does so by lacing random hygiene products with components of his genius invention.
Fans would be surprised to know that years later the director ended up using this name, which he made up specially for the Batman movie, as a reference in another work. This was none other than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the British musical released in the year 2005, starring Johnny Depp as the titular character.
Smylex or Smilex: The connection
In the 2005 movie Johnny Depp plays the role of the greatest candymaker aka Willy Wonka or Charlie. It is shown earlier on in the movie that Charlie’s father used to work in a toothpaste factory, and strikingly the toothpaste company was called Smilex, similar to smylex.
This connection in no way affects the plot of either of the two movies but it sure provides a moment of coincidental remembrance for fans. It is unclear if the director intentionally used similar names but one can only speculate since he is famous for adding references and allusions in his works.
To further drive the point home, fans from the Batman 1989 movie might recall Joker’s grand scheme of subtly releasing his toxin amongst the people. He did so by placing components of the chemical in different products, ironically one of them being toothpastes.
All eyes on Burton
It has now been several years since both the movie’s release and the Batman franchise has even made further advancements so this slight connection may be just happenchance. But fans of both the movies and Burton’s iconic directing style wish we could see another potential sequel.
Perhaps it was just the director’s reference to his older work but it would be iconic if in future we could witness both the characters in a single movie. Fans of the actors would love to see the eccentric candymaker meeting one of the deadliest villains of all times. But since there is no official confirmation or even a hint by Burton of such a thing happening, one can only hope.
Catch both the Batman 1989 movie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) on Amazon Prime Video.
