no need to look up “beauregarde”
In the olde days, when I wrote nothing more than a brief synopsis of my vapid life (which has turned out considerably better than vapid, thank you very much), I very often would critique movies that I saw. Some of the highlights were seeing Eight Legged Freaks with Jeremiah and nearly walking out; being blown away at my first viewing of Minority Report, the first Tom Cruise movie I had seen to that date; and laughing for hours with Adam after sitting in for The Core, which still holds one of the highest honors in my Hall Of Shame.
Some may know of my love for chocolate. And if you didn’t know that, well, I’ve spilled the cocoa beans. Even forgetting the immense inclusion of candy in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the original film, starring Gene Wilder, is one of my favorite movies. It is just so stunning, quizzical, and morbidly mysterious. I wish someone would discover some enchanting album that happens to sync with the film just like “Dark Side of the Moon” syncs with The Wizard of Oz; that would make the film all the more better. As an aside, the DVD of WW&tCF has a wonderful look into the making of the film, complete with an interview with Roald Dahl!
So, anyways, while in Boston, the group of us decided we must see the new Depp-ed out version of C&tCF. I was not a bit hesitant; from watching the trailer of the movie, I was less than impressed; but to settle my inhibitions, or to blow away expectations, I had to see it.
I think it is fair to say that the rest of the group was astounded by it. And I was to, for a Burton movie. You can tell, quite clearly at that, that Tim Burton fully disregarded the existence of the original WW&tCF and directed something from another starting point galaxies removed. As if Depp was the first Wonka. As if Annasophia was the first Violet Beauregarde. As if.
(The usage of “Charlie” instead of “Willy Wonka” in the title tells much as well; “Charlie” is the book’s term, while “Willy Wonka” was decided on in the 1970s as a buffer for the proximate release of the Willy Wonka candy bar, which eventually floundered, despite the film’s success).
The new film is good, yes; but I just prefer Mr. Wilder’s darker antics. His manipulation of Wonka’s character is a spectacle to watch and reveals that hint of the insanity arising from betrayal, a demanding candy industry, and living with hundreds of tiny, sing-song aborigines. Depp does a fantastic job, but almost makes Wonka into a sort of ignorant person. Yet, at the same time, I think that is the Tim Burton-direction shining through.
So the new C&tCF just isn’t for me. It’s good, yes, and I may even buy the DVD; but it is not my bar of chocolate.
But Coca Cola succeeds, in my book, in their reinvention of the zero-calorie pop. Coke Zero has my two thumbs up. All but the name. Zero? That’s similar to hearing a football team named “Defense”; exemplifying one side while ignoring the other (in this case, Coke points out the 0 calories, but doesn’t say anything of the true-to-original taste). Oh well. Coke Zero beats Diet Coke by five shakes of a leg. Indeed. Pepsi is just gross.
July 26th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
Burton’s version more closely follow the book and Dahl’s vision. Roald Dahl was amazingly dark, and though Wilder captured a unique and great vision of Wonka, he was not true to Dahl. The Oompa Loompas in Burton’s film sing the songs originally in the book and many of the happenings are taken straight from the text. For this reason, I highly respect the film, although it’s not necessarily as “kid-friendly” as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.