![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerSo it would seem most/all of my Rudes friends absolutely loved it and most/all of my WAC buddies seriously disliked it. Well, since everybody's been dying for my take, I finally saw it last night with Kristen. NOW... I must say that for me, it was utterly impossible to not draw comparisons to the original WILLY WONKA, which certainly biased me. NONETHELESS, I am not so petty that I cannot realize a brilliant, funny movie when I see one. If it is truly great, I cannot deny it in my heart. Unfortunately, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY was not brilliant. Fun? Often. A return to what Burton does best? Well, it ain't EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, but it's a good step in a better direction than APE-BRAHAM LINCOLN.
Let's go with what I liked, in no particular order. Charlie's house, wonderful. Oh hell, the whole Burtony world. So full of Burtony goodness. Violet's mother was utterly creepy, just an astounding performance. In fact, whenever she or Augustus Gloop were there in closeup (GAH! German Pugsley with no eyebrows! He's baby Robert Blake from LOST HIGHWAY! "Ja, call your housen, und I vill ne dere. See? I told you I vas dere.") Grampa Joe was great too, if only because I love the actor. I remembered him as O'Reilly, the inept construction worker on FAWLTY TOWERS, and who could ever forget, try though they may, when he rode bare-ass naked on a motorcycle in WAKING NED DEVINE?
The Oompa-Loompa guy was astounding in deadpan excellence. Christopher Lee is the motherfucking man, who rules every second he's on screen. Like, no wonder Willy grew up the way he did, he Dad was Dracula! He's the only one in the entire cast who just forces you to turn and look at him every second he's on screen. And Danny Elfman finally producing an Elfmanian score, not to mention giving us glimpses of Oingo Boingo, well, that's just happy right there.
Unfortunately, that's about where the happy ends. See, look, I know Depp is brilliant. But I am kinda sick as to how there's this knee-jerk "Oh, everything Depp touches is gold!" reaction to him. Maybe it's not undeserved, but seriously, it bugses me. But not nearly as much as his performance as Wonka bugses me. Now, I don't know how much Michael Jackson was an influence there, or how legit those claims are by many critics that he even was an influence. Forget that, put that aside, and he still annoyed the shit out of me.
I didn't think he was likeable at all. I know he was meant to be immature and childlike and kinda innocent in his way, and sure, Depp suceeded at all that with flying colors. And that character annoyed the utter living shit out of me. I'm sorry, but I just think Gene Wilder's knowing, darkly evil Wonka had far more life and entertainment than Depp's gaunt, hollow fop. In fact, hollow is the word, just like a large chocolate egg. There was no depth to Depp's Wonka, you knew exactly what he was the second you saw him. There was no richness to the character. Now, maybe that comes from delving into his backstory, which Wilder did not, and thus eliminating the air of enigma that Wilder still maintained. Or maybe it was just a two-dimensional character as depicted in this version.
And also, I guess most of you weren't bothered by this, but this movie had serious pacing issues. Like, it's been a long time since I've been repeated boooooored in a movie I paid good money to see in a theater. The worst moments were right after each Oompa-Loompa song. The songs were so full of Elfman life, and then in the minutes afterwards there's no music, only awkward silences and meek, lifeless, lame-ad-lib-quality humor and interaction between the characters. It's like going from Bubsy Berkely to Napoleon Dynamite with no transition whatsoever, and those scenes draaaaged, mainly because there was absolutely no life in these characters! Not even Depp, for all his mystical and unattainable screen charisma, could keep the whole pace from sinking like a lead balloon. Depp could not summon the over-the-top life necessary to live within Wonka's world. Where was the joy, the childlike energy, the glee of living in a chocolate factory that they seemed to be shooting for? Y'know, I honestly think they would have done far better had Pee-Wee Herman played the role.
And let's go back to those Elfman songs, shall we? Now, Elfman rules, we all know this, and he rules all the more for using the actual Roald Dahl lyrics. Each of the songs are fun and would be great to have on your ipod. However, I have to wonder, aside of the Willy Wonka theme they used in the trailer, how many of these songs stuck in your head? How many of you walked out of the theater humming the Augustus Gloop's song? Or the Abba-esuqe Veruca Salt song? Anybody? I'm frankly amazed at Elfman here. This is the man behind Oingo Boingo and Nightmare Before Christmas, capable of producing some provocative, aggressive, subversive, toe-tapping tunes that latch onto your soul and never let go. Yet here, he gave up his trademark originality to do takes on disco, hair-metal, and motherfucking Abba of all motherfucking things, which is what I'd sooner expect from lazy unimaginitive Hollywood hacks, but not Elfman. I mean, Elfman still did it better than they would have and they were entertaining, but it paled in comparison to what he could and should have done.
The movie lacked life, that's the problem with it. Seriously, take when Veruca was dispatched for example. It was hugely anticlimactic, and I don't know whether to blame Burton, Elfman, the actress, the squirrels, or everyone involved. In fact, when each of the kids were dispatched, I felt nothing. There was none of that evil satisfaction that we should be feeling. It was just, "ok, another one down. Next?" I'm sorry to make comparisons, but the this new one lacked the life, vitality, and heart that the original and hell, the original book itself had! I was expecting this kinds of forgettable mediocrity from Fantastic Four, but not Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was just bored through too much of the movie, and when John Hefner, lover of Sergio Leone epics like Once Upon a Time in the West, thinks a movie boring... well, that really should say something.
Burton and Depp were going through the motions, and what they produced was something sweet and tasty, but quickly and ultimately hollow and forgettable.
Let's go with what I liked, in no particular order. Charlie's house, wonderful. Oh hell, the whole Burtony world. So full of Burtony goodness. Violet's mother was utterly creepy, just an astounding performance. In fact, whenever she or Augustus Gloop were there in closeup (GAH! German Pugsley with no eyebrows! He's baby Robert Blake from LOST HIGHWAY! "Ja, call your housen, und I vill ne dere. See? I told you I vas dere.") Grampa Joe was great too, if only because I love the actor. I remembered him as O'Reilly, the inept construction worker on FAWLTY TOWERS, and who could ever forget, try though they may, when he rode bare-ass naked on a motorcycle in WAKING NED DEVINE?
The Oompa-Loompa guy was astounding in deadpan excellence. Christopher Lee is the motherfucking man, who rules every second he's on screen. Like, no wonder Willy grew up the way he did, he Dad was Dracula! He's the only one in the entire cast who just forces you to turn and look at him every second he's on screen. And Danny Elfman finally producing an Elfmanian score, not to mention giving us glimpses of Oingo Boingo, well, that's just happy right there.
Unfortunately, that's about where the happy ends. See, look, I know Depp is brilliant. But I am kinda sick as to how there's this knee-jerk "Oh, everything Depp touches is gold!" reaction to him. Maybe it's not undeserved, but seriously, it bugses me. But not nearly as much as his performance as Wonka bugses me. Now, I don't know how much Michael Jackson was an influence there, or how legit those claims are by many critics that he even was an influence. Forget that, put that aside, and he still annoyed the shit out of me.
I didn't think he was likeable at all. I know he was meant to be immature and childlike and kinda innocent in his way, and sure, Depp suceeded at all that with flying colors. And that character annoyed the utter living shit out of me. I'm sorry, but I just think Gene Wilder's knowing, darkly evil Wonka had far more life and entertainment than Depp's gaunt, hollow fop. In fact, hollow is the word, just like a large chocolate egg. There was no depth to Depp's Wonka, you knew exactly what he was the second you saw him. There was no richness to the character. Now, maybe that comes from delving into his backstory, which Wilder did not, and thus eliminating the air of enigma that Wilder still maintained. Or maybe it was just a two-dimensional character as depicted in this version.
And also, I guess most of you weren't bothered by this, but this movie had serious pacing issues. Like, it's been a long time since I've been repeated boooooored in a movie I paid good money to see in a theater. The worst moments were right after each Oompa-Loompa song. The songs were so full of Elfman life, and then in the minutes afterwards there's no music, only awkward silences and meek, lifeless, lame-ad-lib-quality humor and interaction between the characters. It's like going from Bubsy Berkely to Napoleon Dynamite with no transition whatsoever, and those scenes draaaaged, mainly because there was absolutely no life in these characters! Not even Depp, for all his mystical and unattainable screen charisma, could keep the whole pace from sinking like a lead balloon. Depp could not summon the over-the-top life necessary to live within Wonka's world. Where was the joy, the childlike energy, the glee of living in a chocolate factory that they seemed to be shooting for? Y'know, I honestly think they would have done far better had Pee-Wee Herman played the role.
And let's go back to those Elfman songs, shall we? Now, Elfman rules, we all know this, and he rules all the more for using the actual Roald Dahl lyrics. Each of the songs are fun and would be great to have on your ipod. However, I have to wonder, aside of the Willy Wonka theme they used in the trailer, how many of these songs stuck in your head? How many of you walked out of the theater humming the Augustus Gloop's song? Or the Abba-esuqe Veruca Salt song? Anybody? I'm frankly amazed at Elfman here. This is the man behind Oingo Boingo and Nightmare Before Christmas, capable of producing some provocative, aggressive, subversive, toe-tapping tunes that latch onto your soul and never let go. Yet here, he gave up his trademark originality to do takes on disco, hair-metal, and motherfucking Abba of all motherfucking things, which is what I'd sooner expect from lazy unimaginitive Hollywood hacks, but not Elfman. I mean, Elfman still did it better than they would have and they were entertaining, but it paled in comparison to what he could and should have done.
The movie lacked life, that's the problem with it. Seriously, take when Veruca was dispatched for example. It was hugely anticlimactic, and I don't know whether to blame Burton, Elfman, the actress, the squirrels, or everyone involved. In fact, when each of the kids were dispatched, I felt nothing. There was none of that evil satisfaction that we should be feeling. It was just, "ok, another one down. Next?" I'm sorry to make comparisons, but the this new one lacked the life, vitality, and heart that the original and hell, the original book itself had! I was expecting this kinds of forgettable mediocrity from Fantastic Four, but not Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was just bored through too much of the movie, and when John Hefner, lover of Sergio Leone epics like Once Upon a Time in the West, thinks a movie boring... well, that really should say something.
Burton and Depp were going through the motions, and what they produced was something sweet and tasty, but quickly and ultimately hollow and forgettable.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-25 10:27 pm (UTC)