Anyone else here looking forward to this Tim Burton-directed movie, which hits theaters this coming Friday? From what I've read, this movie version will be more faithful to Roald Dahl's book than the 1971 version was. -G
I don't know... "Pink Flamingos" and Burton's "Willy Wonka" in the same week? I dunna thinka she cun take enemore, capt'n...
I saw the trailer last week and I must say its looking alot darker and sinister... I will always love the original as a true classic. But let's see if Burton can put a different slant on this version. Depp as Willy Wonka? Remains to be seen - but all signs are looking positive. I just hope they put in the Peter Griffin 'running home with the silver scroll and scraping his knee' bit in... ssssssssssssssss...............ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
This movie could be a lot of fun. C&tCF was a book that everyone in the class read and loved back when I was back in the second grade or so. Gene Wilder did a very good job in the first movie, but Depp is so versatile an actor, that I think he'll make a great Willy Wonka. As noted above, the trailer I saw for this movie a few days ago looks much darker than the first flick.
Roald Dahl's books all have a sinister edge to them, so if this is faithful to the book, I'd expect it to be dark. I'm looking forward to this one. It's the only movie of the season I've been wanting to see.
It looks very good. There was a great article in Entertainment Weekly about it last week. As for the Oompa Lumpa's, they're all played by the same guy, who is a little person that they shrunk digitally to be even smaller.
Where are they now type article about Peter Ostrum, who originally played Charlie and is now a horse/cow veterinarian in a small, upstate NY town: The first Charlie Bucket keeps a very low profile by Cara Anna, AP (If you can't get into the Merc site and want a login, copy the article URL to www.bugmenot.com, and you'll get an appropriate user name/pw.)
Burton has yet to really dissapoint me. I have a good feeling that this one will blow away the original, especially since it is following closer to the book. I love Gene Wilder but well..... no need to explain.
I plan to go today. What I noticed when recently watching the original movie recently is how crude the machines and special effects were. I remember watching this as a kid and couldn't say I noticed before, so maybe I shouldn't compare them. I figured that today, they should be able to work wonders. Let's hope the acting keeps up with the CGI. My little brother (10 years old) has been working and saving money this summer and has invited me to see this movie. Good kid, no?
There's an interesting USA Today Flash info page about this movie, as well as chocolate-making in general, here. -G
Saw it earlier today. I just read Ebert's review (3 stars), and he mentions that Depp seems to be channeling Michael Jackson, and doesn't like the preformance. It made me think of MJ too. I though Depp was pretty good, although some of the lines seemed to be in there just to be funny, and don't really have a point. But they were funny. Not a great movie, but it was fun and I definitely enjoyed it.
I don't even plan on seeing this for two reasons. The movie looks like it has way too much CGI and computer effects which I'm not a big fan of, I don't see what stopping them from building actual sets. Also, just from the previews, I can tell I won't like the Wonka character at all.
I really liked it. Depp was cool and it seemed to be closer to the book than the earlier film. Some of it really worked, some of it didn't. The worst acting was by Helena Bonham Carter, she seemed terribly mis-cast to me. I thought the rest was great, good but not over done special effects. I had read about the Michael Jackson lookalike thing, and I kinda watched for that -- it seems most obvious when he wears the various glasses -- especially the dark ones towards the end. I was glad they broadened the role of the grandparents some, I remember enjoying their dialogue in the book. It had some flaws but it was very good I thought.
I've just returned from watching the movie. Two very big thumbs up - it was perhaps the most pure fun movie I've seen so far this year! Among other things, I really liked the extra backstory they added about Willy Wonka and his dentist dad. It really added a lot to the Willy character, and made the ending (different from the 1971 version's ending) that much more poignant. And from what I've read, Tim Burton likes to use less CGI than certain other filmmakers, so much of the sets and effects were non-CGI (i.e. models and other stuff). -G
I loved this movie. I think it's one that will grow on you as you think about it more. Did you notice the scene near the beginning where they showed the ribbon cutting for the factory opening and Depp was hold a giant pair of scissors? Remind you of anything?
I liked the movie. I thought it may be too much for the kids, but they all liked it, too. I thought the flashbacks were nice and really felt bad for the young Willie. After the movie, I asked my friend if he felt like he needed to call his dad. I thought the Charlie and Gramps characters were not developed enough, and Charlie's decisions were rather quick and never in doubt. It would have been nice to see these people's feelings, not just straight forward "we are family" motto. Too simple for me. The Oompa Lumpa guy was also in Big Fish. His dancing was cute. It is a family movie but this can't develop into a classic as the other movie did due to the way in which we get to see movies today. The initial week and maybe the second will be big. It will die down and go away soon enough. People will be able to watch it all the time on DVD and the various cable movies networks. Things aren't as "special" anymore, I guess. Depp did well, but many of his one-liners seemed either tired or forced. Overall, a solid performance by him. He needed to be distant and out of touch enough to understand the wonderful world he created to escape from his past.
Saw this last night, and liked it a good deal, more than the original definitely (though I haven't seen that one in years). Johnny Depp was just about perfect, and I liked that Wonka had some backstory in this version. I liked the Grandpa character too, thought he was actually well-developed with his ties to Willy Wonka. I was trying to figure out where I knew Charlie's dad from. Turns out he was in Vanilla Sky.
I really liked it. Plenty of sly humor and inside jokes for adults. Danny Elfman gets an Oscar for score from this one. Great to have the founder of Oingo Boingo scoring the movie when you need catchy Oompa-Loompa songs.
I liked it, but liked the original better. The music was cool and so were the visuals, but the kids didn't come off as "human" as in the original -- they were so over-the-top you didn't feel any connection with them at all. Maybe I wasn't supposed to, but I liked that in the original movie, I still cared a bit for the brats. The ending was a bit too Disney for me, as well. I liked Depp's performance, even though it was reminiscent of Jacko.