kitty pi

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing chocolatier!

Well, I am not too happy about it being Monday. But the weekend was mostly terrific and started with a night at the movies. Here is a Quilty Recap.

As promised, Friday night, we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Before you read my review here, just go ahead and go to Fandango and buy your tickets for the next showing. It was Delightful! Delectable! Deliriously Daffy! I loved it. Tim Burton did an amazing job. Johnny *be still my heart* Depp was indescribably good. I thought he was a bit hard to look at in the trailers, but I didn't find that was the case at all in the movie. He's strangely cute and funny. The story stays amazingly true to the book with a few exceptions. The kids were cast brilliantly. I particularly loved the casting of Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket (Freddie, you are remarkable). Actually, the whole Bucket family was exceptional. The writing was as good as you would expect if you are a fan of the book.

John August, the screenwriter, stayed very true to the Dahl story, including the Veruca Salt scene with squirrels. When you see this section of the movie, you realize why they couldn't use the squirrels in the first movie; they just didn't have the technology. I have never seen a more amazing use of animals in a movie - ever! Knowing that they used actual trained squirrels made my brain boggle and tickled me to no end.

Visually, the movie is eye candy from start to finish and from the opening sequence I found myself saying "how did they do that?!". Tim Burton's signature style is there throughout the movie and he never misses an opportunity to throw in a cool skeleton whereever appropriate! (On a side note, the trailer for The Corpse Bride has me counting the days 'til that movie opens.) The set design is miles and miles away from the Gene Wilder rendition of the movie. Many times, I couldn't help but compare this one to the old one, but in the end, my verdict is that you don't have to compare the two movies - you can love them both.

The movie has quite a bit of story that wasn't in the original movie, including a backstory of Willie Wonka's childhood and a little Freudian motivation for him that wasn't in the book either. It neither takes away nor adds anything earth-shattering to the story, but I enjoyed it a lot.

There are also a lot of scenes and lines from the book and Gene Wilder movie that didn't make it in, but that was all made up for by the fact that the Oompa Loompas practically stole the show. My daughter hates Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory because she thinks the the Oompa Loompas are creepy. I think she'll like this one because they are not only not creepy, but they are very entertaining and visually amazing (and all played by one actor, Deep Roy, who you may have seen in Big Fish). The songs are right out of the book and the lyrics are much harder to understand but the scenes with them are truly delightful and you don't want to take your eyes off the screen while they are on.

This is a totally different interpretation of the Dahl classic story and it is a mistake to try to
choose one movie version over the other. In my mind, this one will stand the test of time a little better. Gene Wilder will always have a warm place in my heart - he played Wonka as if we were in on the joke. Johnny Depp's Wonka seems unaware his oddness and seems truly, truly eccentric.

One last thing and I will leave the rest to the "real" movie reviewers: this movie is totally appropriate for even small children. I loved that it was funny, adventurous, heart-warming, not too smarmy or sentimental or mushy, and there isn't one thing I would consider objectionable in the entire film. Adults and children alike should enjoy it immensely. It really is fun for the whole family. I am going to see it again (maybe at the IMax).

I give it 5 thumbs, way up!

posted by Anita at 8:56 AM