(no subject)

[2eclipse]

i just saw willie wonka and the chocolate factory with ross.
what a disappointment.
the acting was fabulous, if not to my taste, but whoever allowed tim burton and danny elfman to work on that project needs to be dragged out into the street and shot. the creepiness of that duo's work was completely unsuited for the story. wonka came off as effete and a complete ninny, instead of charming and eccentric. he also appeared to dislike children generally for most of the movie, rather than specifically, because he never allowed them to EARN his disgust before voicing it.
the songs were a poor substitute for the wit of the first movie and the lyrics were mostly unintelligible.
that said, he did a few things i liked. it was modernized in some interesting ways, and in a few places adhered to the book in some ways that the former movie did not. the actors did a very good job of portraying their characters. the only acception was johnny depp, who did a fabulous job, i just hated his portrayal of wonka.
the best thing about it was really the previews for movies coming out this fall. which look fabulous.
king kong - directed by peter jackson
ice age 2 - i hated the sloth from the first movie(just plain annoying), but maybe he won't be in this one....i can always hope
corpse bride - patterned after nightmare before xmas
and the wallace and grommit movie - obviously a must-see for yours truly.

Comments

[skia.livejournal.com]

Well, it would defeat the purpose of looking for an heir if you assume that was Wonka's intent. If we run with the story as presented in the new movie, however, it looks as though Wonka is not looking for heirs. He's already found them. What he's looking for is a child who can withstand temptation (perhaps because he realizes his own great dissatisfaction stems from his own inability to stop himself from eating that chocolate treat found in the fireplace?). It's interesting to note that, in at least some instances, the order in which the trials were arrived at were random. By the time Mike TV is out of the picture, Wonka is genuinely surprised that Charlie is the only one left. Which leads me to believe he was about to take Charlie to the next room which would hold his great temptation. But seeing he was the only child left, he hit "up and out" on the Wonkavator instead.

As it turns out, the chocolate factory itself was probably a greater temptation than any Wonka could have cooked up, and Charlie refuses it. So we in the audience don't feel he's lacking in any way. And all ends well. The direction of Wonka having pre-knowledge of the children was not some slap-dash addition to the plot. It was well thought out and is self-consistent if you (choose to) look a little deeper into it.

And of course he also dislikes children. But to say "He dislikes children" alone insinuates that he's just honkey-dory with the rest of humanity, which he clearly isn't (and shouldn't be after being cloistered for so long!). And he didn't allow only children into his factory. In fact, he allowed just as many adults into his factory as he did kids. As to why he wanted a child for his heir, and why he was at the same time so disinterested in them, the movie could not have spelled it out more clearly. Wonka wanted his heir to be like him. And he was the product of a distant and unaffectionate father. Wonka had no idea how to raise an heir apart from doing the same thing his father did. We see it all the time, don't we? Repeating the mistakes of our parents over and over again down through the generations. Wonka's condition seemed text-book psychology to me, which made him more real and interesting.

Like I said, perhaps realism was not what was called for and you enjoyed the fictional Willy Wonka more. If that's the case, though, you can't really call the movie a travesty. You can call it "not to my taste" or even "too real", but you must admit that it is well told, well planned, and self-consistant. You can say "I want my Wonka to be brilliant and inspired", but it's not the fault of the movie if he is not. Like many things, it is but a matter of taste. To "blame burton" or suggest the producers be "dragged out into the street and shot" is to say "They are responsible for my taste," which I don't think is quite true.