Saw charlie and the choclate factory tonight...
...and i quite liked it! Its completly different to the original, but i think its very important to rememeber with this that its not a remake of the original but a new interpretation of the book. But of course i will have to compare and contrast...
One of the biggest contrasts in charlie and the chocolate factory is the opening. Theres a lot more focus on charlies relationship that he has with his family, and also we learn a lot more about granpa joe. I would go so far to say that i actually think that the beginning of the film is the best part of the film.
I thought that johnny depps performance was amazing. He does what he always does - a performace which isn't what you're expecting. I felt quite uneasy in some parts of the films (especially at the beginning due to a michael jackson type performance from depp), but more than that i just found wonka to be quite freaky and scary in this version. I'm not sure whose version of willy wonka i prefere to be honest, I loved wilders manic performance - they're both completly different and both work in the films.
The children....I'm not a fan of child actors... but i thought the boy who played charlie was great, he had a nice innocence to him, didn't annoy me at all. Other good child performances came from the fat boy (i cant rememeber his characters name), while the other child actors were average at best (although teevee boy was annoying - which is how hes supposed to be i suppose).
One of the things that did annoy me considerably throughout the films was the oompa loompas. Was way too much CGI and the song routines lacked charm. While in willy wonka and the choclate factory the oompa loompas are characters that everyone likes, i got the impression from listening in to other people after the film that I wasn't the only one who found them annoying.
I do prefer the original, maybe its because its something that I've grown up with, maybe because its shorter. But this film isn't one that i feel that i could or would watch everytime it came on TV. Theres something lacking and I'm not quite sure what it is... I do intend to see it again when it comes out on DVD because im interested in the special features, but its not a film that i would say that everyone has to see. Its a good and enjoyable film, but its not great.
