Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (2005)

[tabuno]

The trailer for Willy Wonka 2005 version has come out and it's good. The movie appears polished with good production value, with both the dark comedy and a harder edge but softened sufficiently to appeal to all audience members. I would say this movie will nourish the Ronald Dahl's heart-wrenching scenes along with the absurd but deliciously fantastic imagination moving this re-make up a notch from the original version. I predict this will be the intelligent children's, family movie of the year that will spill over into other audience demographics, making Charlie one of the more profitable movies of the year. No Best Picture because of its comedy/family genre, but a clear Golden Globes consideration for Comedy/Musical, along with another nomination for Johnny Depp.

[wpqx]

Looks like complete and utter shit. Why is Tim Burton wasting his time with ANOTHER remake, didn't he learn from Planet of the Apes. He's better than this, a total waste of talent and a remake of a campy movie that wasn't that good to begin with.

[tabuno]

I grew up with Charlie and The Chocolate Factory along with James and the Giant Peach. Each of these books are well known, quality children's books.

It sounds like you're pre-judging the material based on the original movie which isn't always the best idea. In fact, a remake might actually be a good idea just because of the original. Some members on this board have been gushing over Batman Begins and from some of the posts it would seem like a legitimate question of "why make Batman again since the originals weren't quite comic-book material?" Same argument.

[tabuno]

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp put together a more complex Mr. Wonka personality that has a past with darker overtones and quirky personality. The special effects, the factory are quite impression with rich images. The whole movie is a bit tilted and off balance as two stories actually unfold here with Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka. The movie is at times loud and brash, somewhat repetition. Yet it is faithful to its source material with an added bonus at the end. There are some scenes that are somewhat harsh and somewhat disturbing for younger children that seem out of place for a children's family movie, yet in order to provide for the serious nature, the backbone of the movie, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp attempt to maintain both sophistication and characterization, Depp humor that is quite good, and high energy music that is both compelling but at times annoying. The one scene with the introduction of the five lucky children to the Willy Wonka factory will probably be a source of some controversy with its masochistic images. Overall, this re-make of Roald Dahl's work is fresh, different, and brilliantly colored with Depp's imprint of both oddness and laughter generating appeal and to a lesser extent Burton's more darker tones in evidence here.