The boy sent me out to buy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday - ostensibly for me, because I am the Depp fan in this house, but also because he's a big fan of Helena Bonham Carter.
I'd heard not-so-positive reviews of the movie, so I didn't expect to be wowed or anything. However, I really liked it. The Oompa Loompas (or the one actor who played all of them) were great and their songs were cool, Depp was suitably weird and Charlie's four grandparents were a hoot.
The only thing I wasn't so sure about was the ending. It's been many years since I read the book, but I really don't remember Wonka having a reconciliation with an estranged father, nor do I recall the big family-is-everything...thing (I've been having a damned hard time thinking of the right words these days; blame it on motherhood and sleep deprivation). This is surely a Hollywood add-on, especially the father and son thing. Ang Lee did it with The Hulk and now Tim Burton has done it with Willy Wonka.
Overall though, I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to viewing the extras tonight.
9 comments:
i remember when i first heard about this movie-i loved the idea of johnny depp playing wonka, and that little guy who was in finding neverland playing charlie sounded great..then i saw the stills and preview stuff, and while i shouldn't judge by that, it totally made me less enthusiastic, and THEN i heard burton "changed the ending" quite a bit..dentist father, yadda yadda..and i totally lost interest in seeing it by the time it hit the theatres.
but maybe i'll rent the DVD..its Depp, after all, right?
The whole dentist father background thing was added in as back story - I don't know why. And the main difference between Wonka and Jackson is of course that Wonka doesn't actually like children all that much...
darth: you'll probably find it better than you expected then, though yeah, the ending and the father were a bit unnecessary.
flying kiwi: but you have to admit that the physical resemblance is creepy. Even Wonka's voice hits a few Jacksonesque hit notes.
Well, you know Hollywood, they can't produce a movie without it having a subliminal lesson to be learned about being a "good person".
Euurrggghhhh!
I actually liked the way the new CATCF finished, and Depp was surpurb as per usual, but I don't get all the comparisons people are saying about MJ....
Ms Mac: You're not wrong...
onscreen: you don't get the comparisons? Really?
I really enjoyed the movie - especially the Kubrick references in the TV room.
Oooh, the MJ references were so blindingly obvious, weren't they? It kind of interfered with my enjoyment of the movie, watching what felt like a cartoon of MJ in Wonkaland.
The changed ending/ dentist father stuff wasn't a big deal for me - I don't like the original movie overmuch - but it certainly underscored the MJ comparisons for me.
onanymous:I thought Deep Roy did a great job in all his Oompa Loompa roles - from psychiatrist to Freddy Mercury impersonator.
the skirt: it was a little distracting wasn't it?
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