Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

[Deleted]

We just watched it on DVD and I really liked it. I thought the casting was great. I was a little annoyed that some of the characters didn't change at all--Veruca Salt and Mike Teevee, but overall I thought it was an excellent remake. Even the Oompa Loompa songs were pleasantly the same and yet different.

I'm surprised people are so in love w/ the original, too. I thought it was a craptastic suckfest.

Do not even get me started on the boat sequence, which is effin scary. I'm not in love with the original, but my husband and I agreed that anyone our age (30's) that grew up in the US and was unable to sing the first few bars of the Oompa Loompa song is either a freak or led an overly sheltered childhood. It's just one of those things.

I just saw the "remake." I really liked it...and I didn't think I was going to. It was a lot more "adult" than I expected. There were a lot of nuances in the movie that I'm guessing went over the heads of most kids.

I think most Roald Dahl fiction is like this. I still read James and the Giant Peach about once a year. I like that the movie kept that characteristic.

[Deleted]

It seems many people watched it during the holidays, like my family. I can't say I didn't like it, but it's mostly a "meh" feeling for me.
I don't know, maybe it's because the original story is totally unknown in Spanish-speaking countries, but I couldn't get into the mood. I love Johnny Depp, and I usually like Burton's movies, but this one? Not so much. I won't certainly watch it again.

[WitchyPoo]

I loved Johnny's "who farted?" facial contortions.

[Benni]

I was really disappointed with the extra's on the DVD. No Bloopers. That is my favourite part of the extra's on DVD's. We bought the Extra Special Expensive Version too. I did really enjoy the training of the squirrels though. What a lot of work for such a little bit of the movie.

[realitybug]

I was really disappointed with the extra's on the DVD.

Oh, me too. I thought there would be so much more.

[pepper67]

I watched it for the first time on Christmas Day as my cousin gave it to me for Christmas (and it was the 2 disc version too!). I thought it was good.

One thing I really did like was how they showed reactions to Grandpa Joe's miraculous recovery (man healed by Golden Ticket!). Mrs. Bucket dropped the cabbage she was holding and everyone else stared at him as he leapt out of bed and started tap-dancing. Then, later on, they show him sweeping the floor as Mr. & Mrs. Bucket are fixing the roof. In the original film, Grandpa Joe and his sudden return to health are totally ignored.

I also really liked Johnny Depp in this. I love how Willy was freaked out by the kids, especially when Violet hugged him.

I didn't recognise Violet's mother as the female alien from Galaxy Quest though! I was totally surprised when I read that (in this thread).

One thing that annoyed me about the extras was at the end of the Raold Dahl documentary. It was by the BBC, and I foolishly let it run after the credits assuming it would go back to the menu pretty quickly. Nope, first of all it had to show me copyright notices in every freaking language in the world! And it wouldn't let me go back to the menu until it had damn well finished. I managed to fast-forward on it so they flashed by quicker but I think in the end I turned off the DVD player and restarted it to escape.

I would have liked to have seen a bloopers tape too.

[glitterbug]

Saw this last night. I was a bit meh about it. I still love Johnny (couldn't believe that Wonka and Jack Sparrow were one and the same person) and think he's an incredible actor. I wasn't keen on the Oompa-Loompas all looking the same, I thought they were a bit too small somehow and I preferred the old blue ones. I liked the way they jazzed up the songs, although I also liked the ols songs because they were very solemn and quite dark. I didn't like the way they blatantly changed parts of the book - I think it was a fantastic story to begin with, so why change it?

I think what it all boils down to is that I saw the Gene Wilder film first (obviously), and that's what's stuck with me. Burton's film was visually stunning and the colours in it seemed almost too bright to be real, I loved that, but I think I still prefer the original.

[deelight]

I ordered this On Demand yesterday and never even finished it. I don't know if its because I never read the book, but I just couldn't get past the original Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. I didn't like the grandparents, couldn't stand Charlie's parents, thought Johnny Depp was too weird (usually I love him) as Wonka...the only thing I really liked better than the original was the actor who played Charlie. I thought he was absolutely adorable. Other than that I am perfectly happy with the orignal movie -- I didn't like this one at all.

[Deleted]

Finally saw this last night and I will fess up to being high as high can be. Anyway, what a trippy and terrific movie. I too hated the original despite my love gor Gene Wilder. This one was hysterical and my only complaint would be that I ended up dreaming about Oompa Loompas and squirrels afterwards. Definately going to buy this.