Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Jul. 31st, 2005 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
undyingkingThis film comes with a lot to live up to. A book that's firmly buried in the psyches of a generation. A cult predecessor from the early 70s. And the weight of Tim Burton's career, which after Planet of the Apes and Bg Fish was starting to look a little derailed.
So down we trotted to our local Odeon. (Which is apparently about to close, and not surprisingly -- the cinema was less than a quarter full, for one of the biggest openings of the year, at only £3.50. We'll have to start going to the UGC, which is 15 minutes' walk rather than 5 :-()
Well, in summary, it's much better than the old film. Nowhere near as good as the book (but how could it be?) And a bit of a return to form for Mr Burton. So overall a recommend!
The dialogue for the most part sticks pretty close to the book, which is good. The nasty kids have been sensibly updated, and they generally work pretty well (apart from Augustus). Charlie's family are well done. The visuals are maybe not as exciting as you might hope, but are about as good as you would expect -- and have some rather splendid moments. The Oompa-Loompas (or rather Oompa-Loompa, as there's just one actor, who gets repeated endlessly) are not quite as annoying as they were in the other film. Danny Elfman's score is as usual excellent, although he rather murders some of the songs.
Johnny Depp works hard to make the role believable. I've seen criticisms that he's too Michael Jackson, but I don't agree. In the book and the other film, Wonka is just a bully. Depp acts around the lines to make more out of the part, so it's understandable in human terms without losing any of the bizarre qualities. Considering he's wearing flat (greenish-)white makeup,he does an amazing amount with his faicla expressions. A performance more different from Jack Sparrow it wold be difficult to imagine, and it can only add to your admiration of his skill.
The controversial aspects will be the added material. There's a series of flashbacks explaining how Wonka got like he is, which seems to me kind of unnecessary but does give an opportunity to watch the great Christopher Lee in action. And there's an extra set of scenes added on the end whereby the value of family is exalted. This is frankly vile and, while it doesn't in any sense ruin the film that's gone before, it'd be a much better film without it. The final "Merry Christmas, every one!" shot is likely to provoke nausea during the credits.
Oh, and there are no Square Sweets That Look Round :-(
So this is my only real recommendation of the summer blockbusters so far, which seem to have been even more derivative, witless and forgettable than usual. Maybe we're seeing the early death-throes of this unhealthy skew in the market.
So down we trotted to our local Odeon. (Which is apparently about to close, and not surprisingly -- the cinema was less than a quarter full, for one of the biggest openings of the year, at only £3.50. We'll have to start going to the UGC, which is 15 minutes' walk rather than 5 :-()
Well, in summary, it's much better than the old film. Nowhere near as good as the book (but how could it be?) And a bit of a return to form for Mr Burton. So overall a recommend!
The dialogue for the most part sticks pretty close to the book, which is good. The nasty kids have been sensibly updated, and they generally work pretty well (apart from Augustus). Charlie's family are well done. The visuals are maybe not as exciting as you might hope, but are about as good as you would expect -- and have some rather splendid moments. The Oompa-Loompas (or rather Oompa-Loompa, as there's just one actor, who gets repeated endlessly) are not quite as annoying as they were in the other film. Danny Elfman's score is as usual excellent, although he rather murders some of the songs.
Johnny Depp works hard to make the role believable. I've seen criticisms that he's too Michael Jackson, but I don't agree. In the book and the other film, Wonka is just a bully. Depp acts around the lines to make more out of the part, so it's understandable in human terms without losing any of the bizarre qualities. Considering he's wearing flat (greenish-)white makeup,he does an amazing amount with his faicla expressions. A performance more different from Jack Sparrow it wold be difficult to imagine, and it can only add to your admiration of his skill.
The controversial aspects will be the added material. There's a series of flashbacks explaining how Wonka got like he is, which seems to me kind of unnecessary but does give an opportunity to watch the great Christopher Lee in action. And there's an extra set of scenes added on the end whereby the value of family is exalted. This is frankly vile and, while it doesn't in any sense ruin the film that's gone before, it'd be a much better film without it. The final "Merry Christmas, every one!" shot is likely to provoke nausea during the credits.
Oh, and there are no Square Sweets That Look Round :-(
So this is my only real recommendation of the summer blockbusters so far, which seem to have been even more derivative, witless and forgettable than usual. Maybe we're seeing the early death-throes of this unhealthy skew in the market.
