Seeing as Hollywood seems utterly devoid of new and interesting ideas this summer, it’s nice to see they’re not completely crapping on time-tested old ones, particularly good old ones.
This week’s must-see movie for Beth and I was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a remake of the classic children’s movie done ages ago. Considering the director, Tim Burton, one would definitely be a bit nervous about it. After all, the original was a bit whimsical and light-hearted, and that certainly does not fit Tim Burton’s personality.
And if you were thinking it would be somewhat dark and brooding, you’d be absolutely right. Gene Wilder, in the original movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory portrayed Willy Wonka as a goofy carefree eccentric, while Johnny Depp portrays him almost as a semi-sinister anti-hero intent on getting revenge on children. Don’t let that turn you off, though. Both portrayals are great, and in some ways Depp’s portrayal is much more interesting!
The opening sequence to the movie is a magnificent trip down the assembly line of the Wonka factory done in CGI. Afterward, the story starts unfolding, and we’re brought into the home of Charlie Bucket, the co-main character. Apparently Burton was a fan of the original movie because they kept very tightly to the original look, but it still has Burton’s fingerprints on it (dark and menacing, to be specific).
In fact, most of the scenery in this movie is somewhat menacing. From the imposing figure that is the candy factory itself hovering over the small town it rises above to the massive display at the entrance of that same factory that, during the opening sequence, breaks into a spontaneous fire turning the cherub-like dolls into melted piles of plastic, there’s a creepiness to this movie that just makes it great.
The story resembles the first movie very closely, although I’m told this story is closer to the storyline from the book than the first movie was. Either way, you’d have to have a hard heart to not enjoy this movie. Here are the hits and misses:
Hits:
1. Johnny Depp: Brilliant portrayal of a classic character with a fresh “attitude.” The dark and brooding Wonka is a much more interesting character than the Gene Wilder version.
2. The Oompa Loompas: They were funny. Burton went beyond dwarves and made the Oompa Loompas a whole race of really really small people and the story even explains in detail how Wonka came across them.
3. The scenery: Grand but not too grand. Imposing and ominous, but lighthearted and dreamy where it needed to be. The boat scene and its “Fantastic Voyage”esque trip down into the bowels of the factory was kinda neat, but looked more like a kid’s toy than a boat. The candy garden was incredible and amazing, and the various elevator scenes were mindblowing.
4. The casting with the exception of one character: Veruca Salt. Every single character in the movie was well-cast and well played. The spoiled kids were pretentious spoiled little brats, the parents obnoxious and annoying, and so on. Charlie Bucket’s family was convincing as a piss-poor family with nothing going on for it except each other. All in all well done by all of them.
5. Dialogue: The dialogue was funny as hell, plain and simple. I did not expect to be that amused by it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Well-written and funny and obviously well-thought-out.
6. The music: Every single musical note in this movie was terrific. Danny Elfman is a master, plain and simple and the lyrics to the “lesson” songs after each kid gets their just desserts are brilliant and funny.
Misses:
1. Veruca Salt. I don’t blame her potrayal on the little girl. I blame it on the writing. Veruca Salt was pouty, loud, and sharp. This Veruca was just spoiled and annoying, and there were times when this little girl from Buckinghamshire England didn’t even have an accent. Didn’t like her much.
2. Some of the scenery was hokey. This would have worked if some of the rest of the scenery wasn’t so unbelievable. The boat scene, for example, was great HOWEVER at times the boat looked like a model getting flushed down a toilet.
3. Wonka’s “sadism”: In some ways, Wonka was almost too sadistic and he seemed to take too much pleasure in the kids being harmed. While I think the darkness of Wonka added a new dimension to the movie, I don’t think he needed to be that dark; although since “over-the-top” was the point anyway, maybe I just missed that aspect a bit.
Conclusion:
Go see it. If you even remotely liked the original, head out now and buy tickets. I didn’t particularly care for the original and I still loved this remake. Johnny Depp should win an Oscar for this one. Of course, he won’t, because the film is in color and English, but hey… You never know 