Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Trey wanted to see this movie, and I had heard good things about it, but ooooowweeee! It was a stinker!
I've never seen the original, but I read the book, so I do have something to compare it to. The movie fell short on a number of counts;
Number 1: Johnny Depp was definitely channelling the spirit of Parker Posey in "The House of Yes," so instead of coming across as someone's extremely eccentric uncle, the way Willy Wonka did in the book, he came across as a moonbat flamer. He had all the mannerisms and all the brattiness of Parker Posey down pat- you expected him to put on Jackie O's Chanel suit shortly. This was, shall we say, distracting.
Number 2: The acting overall was poor. The actors in Roald Dahl's sordid little essay on 4 of the seven deadly sins kept forgetting that they were in a movie, and needed to be reminded; They delivered their lines like someone was constantly hissing off-stage, Your line! Your line! None of the children who met unfortunate fates really seemed sufficiently loathsome to merit it; they seemed to keep forgetting that they were supposed to be loathsome and were normal. They were vaguely annoying but then again, I've been forced to spend time with children who would make most people's hair curl (now you know why my hair is curly.)
Number 3: The pacing was leaden, and didn't really seem to go anywhere; There wasn't any suspense building at appropriate times; there wasn't any suspense building at inappropriate times; there was no suspense at all. Once the scene began, for example, the one in which Veruca Salt tries to catch a squirrel, you wait for it to drearily end. The entire film is joyless.
Number 4: The effects, as usual, detract rather than add to the imagery. A fair number of them are unrealistic computer generated crap.
Number 5: The general plot of the story is thrown overboard halfway through, as though the filmmakers realized they had 60 minutes of footage and another 30 minutes of film to make, by a bizarre plot about Willy Wonka having had a dentist father who didn't let him eat candy and who wouldn't talk to him anymore. Then the two are more treacily than tearfully rejoined. Gagging was inevitable.
I wish that I had more time to spend on making this a really good, rip it to shreds sort of review, but I lack the motivation. The movie was tiresome and dispiriting, not at all fun or whimsical. It was like a bad Swedish movie, sullen and leaden.
I've never seen the original, but I read the book, so I do have something to compare it to. The movie fell short on a number of counts;
Number 1: Johnny Depp was definitely channelling the spirit of Parker Posey in "The House of Yes," so instead of coming across as someone's extremely eccentric uncle, the way Willy Wonka did in the book, he came across as a moonbat flamer. He had all the mannerisms and all the brattiness of Parker Posey down pat- you expected him to put on Jackie O's Chanel suit shortly. This was, shall we say, distracting.
Number 2: The acting overall was poor. The actors in Roald Dahl's sordid little essay on 4 of the seven deadly sins kept forgetting that they were in a movie, and needed to be reminded; They delivered their lines like someone was constantly hissing off-stage, Your line! Your line! None of the children who met unfortunate fates really seemed sufficiently loathsome to merit it; they seemed to keep forgetting that they were supposed to be loathsome and were normal. They were vaguely annoying but then again, I've been forced to spend time with children who would make most people's hair curl (now you know why my hair is curly.)
Number 3: The pacing was leaden, and didn't really seem to go anywhere; There wasn't any suspense building at appropriate times; there wasn't any suspense building at inappropriate times; there was no suspense at all. Once the scene began, for example, the one in which Veruca Salt tries to catch a squirrel, you wait for it to drearily end. The entire film is joyless.
Number 4: The effects, as usual, detract rather than add to the imagery. A fair number of them are unrealistic computer generated crap.
Number 5: The general plot of the story is thrown overboard halfway through, as though the filmmakers realized they had 60 minutes of footage and another 30 minutes of film to make, by a bizarre plot about Willy Wonka having had a dentist father who didn't let him eat candy and who wouldn't talk to him anymore. Then the two are more treacily than tearfully rejoined. Gagging was inevitable.
I wish that I had more time to spend on making this a really good, rip it to shreds sort of review, but I lack the motivation. The movie was tiresome and dispiriting, not at all fun or whimsical. It was like a bad Swedish movie, sullen and leaden.
posted by SavageATL at 2:43 PM
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