Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

[december]

See the vibe I got from the book (which it has been a while since I read it) is that Wonka is stand-offish to the kids until they prove that they are worthwhile, which is why he ends ups very dismissive of all the kids except Charlie, once he has proven himself of course.

Though Johnny Depp does look freaky in this. Likealong the lines of Edward Scissorhands freaky looking.

[princessp]

girlyghoul said:

Depp's Wonka is just freaking me out too much. That and I'm disappointed that they've apparently only used one actor for the Oompa Loompa and CGI'ed him to multiply. There are PLENTY of super talented little people actors out there who could have filled the multiple roles (Peter Dinklage immediately springs to mind as well as Warwick Davis who's gotta be tired of the Leprechan franchise by now. Plus, Depp couldn't have hooked up Marty Klebba after his PotC role?) Deep Roy rocks for sure, but he could have rocked in an ensemble.

Then again, I'm pretty anti-CGI as it is.

Actually, for the most part the "duplicates" of Deep Roy are not CGI creations. In many scenes the actor performed a dozen times or more as different Oompas and then that footage is assembled so he is, in fact, playing multiple characters -- instead of being artificially duplicated by computer. Apparently Burton wanted all the Oompas to look exactly alike but to act with slight differences. For example, Roy has talked about doing the dance numbers and using the same steps but slightly different movement style and timing for each "character" he was playing in the Oompa chorus line.

[spider]

I always thought that Wonka was pretty stand offish towards the kids in the book too: he starts out in the book acting very navie and letting them run wild, but it turns out to be for an ulterior motive.

[roxpopuli]

This version looks like it'll be straight from the book, unlike the original

Did the original have Wonka saying, "Don't touch that squirrel's nuts?" The trailer gave me all kinds of creepy vibes with the sexual innuendos and almost pedophiliac-like tendencies of Wonka. I am sure in Tim Burton's world, the factory has a dungeon in it where Wonka tortures children in his spare time.

At any rate, I HATE it when they take children's classics and interject sex and potty humor. Look what that did to The Cat in the Hat!

[GirlyGhoul]

I got my old dog-earred copy of the book and flipped to the "squirrel scene". In the book, when Veruca goes after the squirrels, Wonka only says "Don't!". And she wasn't ever after the nuts, it was the squirrel she wanted because they were trained squirrels. So, yeah. Pottied up the movie 'tis.

[Deleted]

I agree. I'm thinking they do that in the hope to appeal to adults in what is basically a kids/family type movie. It just dumbs the movie down, in my opinion, and really, how many mature adults really find that stuff funny? That type of humor is really for teenage boys, few of whom would be caught dead in a kid's movie like Cat in the Hat.
I do think there'll be a pretty wide/diverse audience for "Charlie" though, because of Burton and Depp.

[jynni]

I'm really trying to keep an open ming on this - I really am. However, I just got the EW that features Johnny as Wonka on the cover. It's even scarier than the trailers. He really does look like the love child of CMJ & Anna Wintour. It doesn't help that EW seems to have also airbrushed the crap out of the picture (as the do with all their covers) and he looks even more plasticy and fake.

[swanflake]

Protests at the film's screenings?[/color]

And this song they plan to sing is both funny and heartaching (it's in all caps because that's how they had it on the site, and all I did was copy/paste). I don't mean to turn this into a Free Trade debate at all, but I agree with what these people are trying to do. And actually, I'm curious to know what Johnny Depp thinks about it, since he seems like the type of person that quite likely would support Free Trade. Well, as I think about it, I'm only saying that because he tries to be all artsy-fartsy.

OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEEDOO
I'VE GOT A TERRIBLE STORY FOR YOU
OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DEE
IF YOU LOVE CHOCOLATE, LISTEN TO ME
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN NESTLE ONLY CARES
ABOUT THEIR PROFIT MARGINS AND SHARES
CHILDREN SLAVE ON THEIR FARMS ALL DAY
WITH OUT RECEIVING A DROP OF PAY
IF IT WERE YOU THEN WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DAH
IF THEY SOLD FAIR TRADE NESTLE'D GO FAR
CHILDREN COULD LIVE IN HAPPINESS TOO
LIKE THE OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPADEE DO!

[kostgard]

Well, I saw it today and I really liked it. All the kids were great, and it felt like a good, old school Burton film with a great Danny Elfman score. Best Burton film I've seen in a while.

I liked Johnny Depp's Wonka - he was weird, but not as weird as he seems in the promos, and some of the things he says are hilarious. Plus, Depp really got Wonka's dark side down - there were a few moments where he was almost scary. And for those who don't like his haircut - at one point in the movie Charlie does say that it is weird.

The sets were great and so were the Oompa-Loompas. They did a great job duplicating Deep Roy - you could tell that he must have done scenes several different times, because while the Oompas were the same during their choreography, they weren't exactly the same and it made it look much more realistic.

If anyone is wondering, it should be fine for kids, there was just one scene (when Veruca Salt makes her exit) where it got a little bit creepy.

[ladymadonna]

I just got back from it and my kids and I LOVED it! I think that they dealt with both the lighthearted and darker themes of the book quite well. Like kostgard said above, Depp's Wonka was wierd, but not nearly as weird as in the trailers.

The Oompa Loompa's songs were great!

We'll definitely get this one on DVD. ;D