Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Went out with John last night to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm a bit "hmmmmmm" about it to be honest. It's very much in Tim Burton's style, and I think if you hadn't read the book or seen the Gene Wilder film version it would probably be a good film. Good performances from Johnny Depp, and the little boy who played Charlie, but I didn't like the extra bits they put in, especially the schmultz-y ending.
Spoilers follow, read at your own risk.
They introduced a whole new side to Wonka - a split and later reconciliation with his dentist father. Why did they need to do that?
I need to re-read the book - I can't remember if the bad man trying to get the kids to steal the sweets was in the book, or introduced by the Gene Wilder film. I also don't remember Charlie's Dad appearing in the book at all, but this may be my memory playing tricks.
The squirrels were great, and I read somewhere on the web that they used quite a lot of real squirrels for the filming.
All the "sticky ends" that the kids came to were really well done :) I also liked the guy who played Grandpa Joe.
Some very VERY bad puns - "I need a hair" :-o
Mind you, they did correct the cardinal sin created by the Gene Wilder film that makes me rant every time I see it - in the book Charlie did not do anything wrong in the factory - that drinking the lemonade sequence was just totally wrong.
BUT they committed a bad, evil sin in this one. The film was clearly meant to be set in England - all the leading characters had British accents, and Charlie was supposed to live right around the corner from the factory. So WHY OH WHY did they keep referring to "candy" throughout the film!! It's CHOCOLATE!!!
Grrrr...
In other news, my shiny new PC spent the night in a warehouse in Newcastle; John will be collecting it for me today :)
Spoilers follow, read at your own risk.
They introduced a whole new side to Wonka - a split and later reconciliation with his dentist father. Why did they need to do that?
I need to re-read the book - I can't remember if the bad man trying to get the kids to steal the sweets was in the book, or introduced by the Gene Wilder film. I also don't remember Charlie's Dad appearing in the book at all, but this may be my memory playing tricks.
The squirrels were great, and I read somewhere on the web that they used quite a lot of real squirrels for the filming.
All the "sticky ends" that the kids came to were really well done :) I also liked the guy who played Grandpa Joe.
Some very VERY bad puns - "I need a hair" :-o
Mind you, they did correct the cardinal sin created by the Gene Wilder film that makes me rant every time I see it - in the book Charlie did not do anything wrong in the factory - that drinking the lemonade sequence was just totally wrong.
BUT they committed a bad, evil sin in this one. The film was clearly meant to be set in England - all the leading characters had British accents, and Charlie was supposed to live right around the corner from the factory. So WHY OH WHY did they keep referring to "candy" throughout the film!! It's CHOCOLATE!!!
Grrrr...
In other news, my shiny new PC spent the night in a warehouse in Newcastle; John will be collecting it for me today :)