Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mini review
I really can't say much without giving too much away, but I really enjoyed the movie. it diverged from the book in some really interesting ways (and in different ways than the first movie did, so all 3 are unique). The basic story is of course the same, 5 golden tickets, 5 children entering the factory, etc. But the dramatic arc of the story was altered in the movie, and thata dded and interesting twist. I can't say more without ruining it, but a big hint is that it's weird that this movie is called 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and the other movie was 'Willy Wonka and the CF.'
The movie was of course very Tim Burton. I love Burton, so I always find the look of his fi;ms to be completely engaging and just so beautiful. This was magnified so much on IMAX. It's a truly beautiful film. The movie is also very Burton in that the characters are all sort of cartoony, and just a little bit creepy(or in augustus gloop's case...a LOT creepy).
I really liked the times when they did stick to the book and used some of the same situations and wording, but I also liked a lot of the modernization and a few new story aspects. I can't say too too much so I'll saw pros and cons
Pros:
The oompa loomas are HILARIOUS. The songs are the ones from the books and they are SO funny. I was laughing out loud throughout the movie. So funny. The songs were a huge highlight. Very cool.
The modernization was weird at times but other times very very funny. Violet Beauregarde and especially her mother were just so funny and so extreme. That's another thing I really liked about the movie. It wasn't like the other one where they made Charlie take fizzy lifting drinks to create dramatic tension. Charlie was an angel, and the other kids were absolutely rotten to the core.
There were a lot of cool, interesting scenes from the book like the chocolate palace Wonka built for an Indian Prince, and you actually see Wonka's journey to Loompaland, which is weird but added a lot of texture to the movie.
I loved one little thing they added in that is not from the book. They made it so that prior to Wonka firing all of his employees and realcing them with oompa loompas, grandpa Joe used to work in the factory. For some reason I really liked that angle.
Cons:
I'm sorry to say this wasn't my future husband's best performance. I was expecting Johnny Depp to be brilliant, and he was ina lot of ways, but something about his character justy felt sort of incongruous with the rest of the movie. It may have been intentional, who knows. Looking at the book, there are a LOT of ways to go with Willy Wonka, because you have SO little information on him and his behavior is so eccentric, you can basically build any back story and envision him any way. This was just a little outside of the bounds of how I would have envisioned WW to be. It was just slightly...off..which may ahve been intentional because WW is a weirdo, but I think what bothered me is that the character didn't have much of an arc. He started out one way, stayed that way for 90% of the movie and then bang, got to the destnation where the movie was taking him. On the other hand, I thought the character development in Charlie was so much better and Charlie seemed much more real. I just didn't know what to make of WW throughout the movie, but then at the end it sort of all came together, but as I said before , too quickly.
Overall I really enjoyed the movie, and I'd really love to see it again. I think I'll enjy it more on subsequent viewings because I'll be more immersed in that world. I've read the book so many times and associated it with the Gene Wilder movie which I've also seen so many times that it's really embedded in my brain in that way. I think to really enjoy the movie you kind of have to get lost in the beautiful world Burton has created.
Let me know what you all thought of it.
The movie was of course very Tim Burton. I love Burton, so I always find the look of his fi;ms to be completely engaging and just so beautiful. This was magnified so much on IMAX. It's a truly beautiful film. The movie is also very Burton in that the characters are all sort of cartoony, and just a little bit creepy(or in augustus gloop's case...a LOT creepy).
I really liked the times when they did stick to the book and used some of the same situations and wording, but I also liked a lot of the modernization and a few new story aspects. I can't say too too much so I'll saw pros and cons
Pros:
The oompa loomas are HILARIOUS. The songs are the ones from the books and they are SO funny. I was laughing out loud throughout the movie. So funny. The songs were a huge highlight. Very cool.
The modernization was weird at times but other times very very funny. Violet Beauregarde and especially her mother were just so funny and so extreme. That's another thing I really liked about the movie. It wasn't like the other one where they made Charlie take fizzy lifting drinks to create dramatic tension. Charlie was an angel, and the other kids were absolutely rotten to the core.
There were a lot of cool, interesting scenes from the book like the chocolate palace Wonka built for an Indian Prince, and you actually see Wonka's journey to Loompaland, which is weird but added a lot of texture to the movie.
I loved one little thing they added in that is not from the book. They made it so that prior to Wonka firing all of his employees and realcing them with oompa loompas, grandpa Joe used to work in the factory. For some reason I really liked that angle.
Cons:
I'm sorry to say this wasn't my future husband's best performance. I was expecting Johnny Depp to be brilliant, and he was ina lot of ways, but something about his character justy felt sort of incongruous with the rest of the movie. It may have been intentional, who knows. Looking at the book, there are a LOT of ways to go with Willy Wonka, because you have SO little information on him and his behavior is so eccentric, you can basically build any back story and envision him any way. This was just a little outside of the bounds of how I would have envisioned WW to be. It was just slightly...off..which may ahve been intentional because WW is a weirdo, but I think what bothered me is that the character didn't have much of an arc. He started out one way, stayed that way for 90% of the movie and then bang, got to the destnation where the movie was taking him. On the other hand, I thought the character development in Charlie was so much better and Charlie seemed much more real. I just didn't know what to make of WW throughout the movie, but then at the end it sort of all came together, but as I said before , too quickly.
Overall I really enjoyed the movie, and I'd really love to see it again. I think I'll enjy it more on subsequent viewings because I'll be more immersed in that world. I've read the book so many times and associated it with the Gene Wilder movie which I've also seen so many times that it's really embedded in my brain in that way. I think to really enjoy the movie you kind of have to get lost in the beautiful world Burton has created.
Let me know what you all thought of it.
