'Cause I've got a golden ticket
All right all right promise only two entries today. Promise.
By the way did you know the library's Internet screen doesn't let me access my sailormoon.com e-mail? Jacked up, I know.
Anyway. Last weekend I went and saw a movie.
So.
You know what THAT means.
I'm gonna do it... Wait for it...wait for it...
So. Remember good old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Remember Tim Burton? In case you didn't know, I love Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Tim Burton is my hero. However his track record with remakes hasn't been so good with me (Planet of the Apes anybody?), so I was apprehensive about the addition of the two.
However, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has reaffirmed his status as genius director god in my mind. Elaboration? Certainly!
I find a supreme irony in the difference in titles and differences in interpretations, for one thing. While Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was about Charlie, his family and his family situation and his character development through the whole spy-wanting-an-everlasting-gobstopper thing, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about Willy Wonka, the events leading up to him becoming a genius chocolateer, and his childhood and relationship with his father. Whoa, I know, right? Ironic!
That being said, I believe Burton's version is meant to be taken as a supplement to the original. If you've seen the original, it's better, because you have a basis for everything already and you're really just looking at a different side of the story. Yes, the interpretations of Wonka in the two movies are worlds apart, but you know what? I think I like Tim Burton's version better.
A comparison. Old skool Wonka was a sort of role model figure, an adult who talked mysteriously because he knew just what the heck was going on. Sort of an omniscient mystery of a man, who, really, had no explainable depth but for being a grand enigma. Sort of a Merlin character. Burton's Wonka is flighty and childish, like he never quite finished growing up. He manages to come off as a crazy, but inside he's not at all, he's just kind of in denial of his childhood. A very deep character, once you get past the surface weirdness (which is totally awesome anyway).
The story is mostly the same at the start. Charlie is a poor English boy who finds the last golden ticket and gets to go into Willy Wonka's factory with four other children. I very much enjoyed seeing the very Burton-esque interpretations of Mike, Violet, Augustus, and Beruka. Perfectly cast and very well played, as were the parts of their parents. I wasn't too fond of the role of Grampa Joe in the movie, but since he didn't turn out to be so important, his actor sort of fit the role Burton cast him into.
The first major difference sort of disappointed me at first. Instead of Wonka walking out of the building with his cane and doing a somersalt and scaring the bejesus out of everyone, the gates open and the contest winners are prompted to enter. Enter the creepy puppet scene from the preview. This actually turned out to be like 8 times better than the original intro, and it's the perfect first impression for Burton's version of Wonka. I won't tell you here, go watch it yourself. It's awesome, take my word for it.
Charlie's role in the movie isn't as a main character. Burton, instead, uses him to prompt flashbacks from Wonka's childhood, which outline his relationship with his very strict famous dentist father, and how he rebelled by becoming a chocolateer. Instead of the gobstopper plot at the end, the problem ends up being that Wonka won't let Charlie take his family with him to the factory. Gasp, right? Very dramatic, and sort of disappointing, until the emotional resolution with the semi-perfect happy Burton type ending.
Anyway, if you had reservations about this remake, drop them and go see it. I was the biggest voice against it when it came out and I absolutely love it now that I've seen it. Oh and if you hear people say Willy Wonka is portrayed as some sort of freaky Michael Jackson ripoff? He's not. Don't listen to them spout their gibberish. Go see the movie. If you like Tim Burton, you'll love it. If you like Tim Burton and loved the original, you'll love it again. And if you like Time Burton, the original movie, and deep characters, you'll love it even more.
Tim Burton was obviously a huge fan of the original. He kept the best lines in there. "Violet, you're turning violet!" anybody?
Get off the computer and go see it. Right now.
I mean it.
I did it.
By the way did you know the library's Internet screen doesn't let me access my sailormoon.com e-mail? Jacked up, I know.
Anyway. Last weekend I went and saw a movie.
So.
You know what THAT means.
I'm gonna do it... Wait for it...wait for it...
So. Remember good old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Remember Tim Burton? In case you didn't know, I love Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Tim Burton is my hero. However his track record with remakes hasn't been so good with me (Planet of the Apes anybody?), so I was apprehensive about the addition of the two.
However, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has reaffirmed his status as genius director god in my mind. Elaboration? Certainly!
I find a supreme irony in the difference in titles and differences in interpretations, for one thing. While Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was about Charlie, his family and his family situation and his character development through the whole spy-wanting-an-everlasting-gobstopper thing, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about Willy Wonka, the events leading up to him becoming a genius chocolateer, and his childhood and relationship with his father. Whoa, I know, right? Ironic!
That being said, I believe Burton's version is meant to be taken as a supplement to the original. If you've seen the original, it's better, because you have a basis for everything already and you're really just looking at a different side of the story. Yes, the interpretations of Wonka in the two movies are worlds apart, but you know what? I think I like Tim Burton's version better.
A comparison. Old skool Wonka was a sort of role model figure, an adult who talked mysteriously because he knew just what the heck was going on. Sort of an omniscient mystery of a man, who, really, had no explainable depth but for being a grand enigma. Sort of a Merlin character. Burton's Wonka is flighty and childish, like he never quite finished growing up. He manages to come off as a crazy, but inside he's not at all, he's just kind of in denial of his childhood. A very deep character, once you get past the surface weirdness (which is totally awesome anyway).
The story is mostly the same at the start. Charlie is a poor English boy who finds the last golden ticket and gets to go into Willy Wonka's factory with four other children. I very much enjoyed seeing the very Burton-esque interpretations of Mike, Violet, Augustus, and Beruka. Perfectly cast and very well played, as were the parts of their parents. I wasn't too fond of the role of Grampa Joe in the movie, but since he didn't turn out to be so important, his actor sort of fit the role Burton cast him into.
The first major difference sort of disappointed me at first. Instead of Wonka walking out of the building with his cane and doing a somersalt and scaring the bejesus out of everyone, the gates open and the contest winners are prompted to enter. Enter the creepy puppet scene from the preview. This actually turned out to be like 8 times better than the original intro, and it's the perfect first impression for Burton's version of Wonka. I won't tell you here, go watch it yourself. It's awesome, take my word for it.
Charlie's role in the movie isn't as a main character. Burton, instead, uses him to prompt flashbacks from Wonka's childhood, which outline his relationship with his very strict famous dentist father, and how he rebelled by becoming a chocolateer. Instead of the gobstopper plot at the end, the problem ends up being that Wonka won't let Charlie take his family with him to the factory. Gasp, right? Very dramatic, and sort of disappointing, until the emotional resolution with the semi-perfect happy Burton type ending.
Anyway, if you had reservations about this remake, drop them and go see it. I was the biggest voice against it when it came out and I absolutely love it now that I've seen it. Oh and if you hear people say Willy Wonka is portrayed as some sort of freaky Michael Jackson ripoff? He's not. Don't listen to them spout their gibberish. Go see the movie. If you like Tim Burton, you'll love it. If you like Tim Burton and loved the original, you'll love it again. And if you like Time Burton, the original movie, and deep characters, you'll love it even more.
Tim Burton was obviously a huge fan of the original. He kept the best lines in there. "Violet, you're turning violet!" anybody?
Get off the computer and go see it. Right now.
I mean it.
I did it.