Willie Wonka... Blah.
So I finally went and saw the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... For those of you haven't seen it or read any Tim Burton interviews this is NOT a remake of the original. Instead, as Tim Burton claims, it's a more faithful interpretation of the book. He also claims he's never seen the original and the guy who wrote the screenplay neveer saw the original either. I can't believe that there are actually people out there that never saw the original. Well.. okay I can believe it but I can't believe Tim Burton NEVER saw it. EVER.
Anyways, I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fan. I read the books, saw the Gene Wilder movie etc etc etc. I went to this movie thinking that it would be different and I'd read the hordes of fabulous reviews about the movie so I was thinking it would probably be pretty great. Let me preface anything else I'm going to say with the fact that I did go see this alone which may or may not affect my opinion of this. Probably does affect it since I think other people's opinions can affect how you feel about it movie at the time you've seen it.
Alrighty... moving along. So, I didn't like it that much. Maybe I'm the ONLY one out there but honestly I didn't dig it. I hated the Oompa Loompas. I wasn't a huge fan of the original ones per se but I hated the new stupid songs and the one actor playing 195 different Oompa Loompas. To be honest he creeped me out. Maybe he was supposed to be less than cute and somewhat creepy but I didn't like it. Also I hate it when Tim Burton does musical crap. I hated the James and the Giant Peach songs, and the Nightmare Before Christmas music. Ugh. Same goes for this one. UGH.
Johnny Depp was good in that character acting weirdo kind of way. He was so obviously being a weirdo though that I wasn't sure if I liked his character or not. The kid from Finding Neverland who played Charlie was pathetic and sad looking enough but whatever with his character. I didn't like Grandpa Joe. Let's face it, I loved the actors from the first movie. That's the movie I grew up with and any new movie, no matter how good it's supposed to be probably wasn't going to do it for me. There can be only one Charlie!
Also, I love how Tim Burton rambles on about how his is based off the book more than the original. Yes to a degree it is, but all that back story about Willie Wonka's childhood is all new and he changed the ending to drag it out longer. Why put that much into that part of the story when he could have put more into the candy factory bits? It just wasn't very magical to me. At least the first movie had more to look at in terms of what was in the factory. I will say that the squirrels shelling nuts bit in the new movie was really cute. I loved the squirrels. Something that was changed in the first movie to geese laying golden eggs. Probably didn't know how to do the squirrels right in the 70's. It was weird with no fizzy lifting scene in the new one either. That wasn't in the book so of course it wasn't in the new movie but that scene was so very much a part of the story to me after having seen the first movie a million times that it was weird without it.
I would recommend this movie as a rental, not anything that you have to see in the theater. You know, I think I'm just sick of Tim Burton movies. They're just not cool like they used to be. I don't even know if I'm going to see the Corpse Bride in the theater at this point. We'll see.
Anyways, I'm a HUGE HUGE HUGE Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fan. I read the books, saw the Gene Wilder movie etc etc etc. I went to this movie thinking that it would be different and I'd read the hordes of fabulous reviews about the movie so I was thinking it would probably be pretty great. Let me preface anything else I'm going to say with the fact that I did go see this alone which may or may not affect my opinion of this. Probably does affect it since I think other people's opinions can affect how you feel about it movie at the time you've seen it.
Alrighty... moving along. So, I didn't like it that much. Maybe I'm the ONLY one out there but honestly I didn't dig it. I hated the Oompa Loompas. I wasn't a huge fan of the original ones per se but I hated the new stupid songs and the one actor playing 195 different Oompa Loompas. To be honest he creeped me out. Maybe he was supposed to be less than cute and somewhat creepy but I didn't like it. Also I hate it when Tim Burton does musical crap. I hated the James and the Giant Peach songs, and the Nightmare Before Christmas music. Ugh. Same goes for this one. UGH.
Johnny Depp was good in that character acting weirdo kind of way. He was so obviously being a weirdo though that I wasn't sure if I liked his character or not. The kid from Finding Neverland who played Charlie was pathetic and sad looking enough but whatever with his character. I didn't like Grandpa Joe. Let's face it, I loved the actors from the first movie. That's the movie I grew up with and any new movie, no matter how good it's supposed to be probably wasn't going to do it for me. There can be only one Charlie!
Also, I love how Tim Burton rambles on about how his is based off the book more than the original. Yes to a degree it is, but all that back story about Willie Wonka's childhood is all new and he changed the ending to drag it out longer. Why put that much into that part of the story when he could have put more into the candy factory bits? It just wasn't very magical to me. At least the first movie had more to look at in terms of what was in the factory. I will say that the squirrels shelling nuts bit in the new movie was really cute. I loved the squirrels. Something that was changed in the first movie to geese laying golden eggs. Probably didn't know how to do the squirrels right in the 70's. It was weird with no fizzy lifting scene in the new one either. That wasn't in the book so of course it wasn't in the new movie but that scene was so very much a part of the story to me after having seen the first movie a million times that it was weird without it.
I would recommend this movie as a rental, not anything that you have to see in the theater. You know, I think I'm just sick of Tim Burton movies. They're just not cool like they used to be. I don't even know if I'm going to see the Corpse Bride in the theater at this point. We'll see.
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Hey! I should be in Sea-town labor day weekend, so if you came up that would be rad. I've been meaning to head up to BC with a friend for quite awhile, so it could be fun.
jess
jess
Oh, I'm definitely going to see the Corpse Bride. I still think Tim Burton is a good filmmaker but I think remakes are definitely not his strong suit. I just watched the trailer of Corpse Bride and I think it'll be pretty good.
I watched this film last night and I felt the same way as you. It may be because I already new the story but I really didn't get into this film at all. I missed the great songs from the first film and there seemed a bit too many awkward pauses in this film. It just didn't have the suspense and climax that the first film had. The kids in the theater seemed to love it though.
