Cinema: Willy Wonka

Well I was wary from the beginning...who could outdo Gene Wilders origional version? But I thought if anyone could do it then Johnney Depp could, and kept an open mind.

Boy was I disappointed!

He came off like a effeminate wacko psych case ( I can see why they made the wacko-Jacko comparisons). The kids and parents completely lacked any substance. Boring, boring, boring!

The dialogue was stilted and slow. I never felt engaged. I am truly shocked this movie got mostly good reviews.

O.K. the squirrel scene was interesting.

Oh, and the Ompha-Loompas (?sp), they only used one actor for all the rolls, and he looked like he had spent his life smoking 3 packs a day and slugging back the EtOH. The new "songs" were terrible and so mumbled you couldn't even hear most of the lyrics.

The only positive about this movie was that sappy...Cheer up Charlie...song was gone.

My vote goes for the origional and Gene.

Any one else see it? Thoughts?

I heard the NF are doing a version of this, Loosley based around a couloured guy Manufacturing Cocaine in his Atic...

They are going to call it "Chocolate and the charlie factory"

Haven't seen it - won't see it.

Hate it, Hate it, Hate it. I never liked it growing up and I won't start now - even if a certain someone (you know who you are)...is trying to force me to go and see it... I still won't...

The Umpa - Lumpas (sp?) make me aggressive. I also hate Mary Popins, cos she's so annoying. Am probably the only one who thinks this but hey..

@treehugger - What specifically did you possibly hate about this movie?

You've got a candy room, wallpaper you can lick, everlasting gobstoppers, soda that makes you float until you expel said excessive gas.

The tunnel scene and Slugworth scared the hell out of me though.

Umpha-Loompas...I liked there little Moral ditties...

"What do you get when your kid is a brat?
Pampered and spoiled like a siamese cat?"
da, da, da...forget lyrics
"who is to blame...the mother and the father"

Thought the film was Good, nothing amazing as will all remakes.

The squirrels are real!!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4702653.stm

I haven't seen this film but I remember hating the way the Umpa lumpas looked (I know, I know, how superficial) but they just bugged me beyond belief. I just couldn't contemplate watching it... Those 104 of my earthly minutes I will never get back... (or however long it is)

I think someone was afraid of the little orange men when they were a child?
umpa lumpa doopety doo...I've got another puzzle for you.

Is it in your head yet??

@Scotsman
ooohhh, don't get me started...

gutted you think this film is rubbish... was soo excited about to watching it :-(

You can live in happiness too, like the...umpa lumpa doopety doo!!!

@ HRC...just my opinion. I was excited too. I often think movies that others like are rubbish though. However, the people with me, also huge origional fans, didn't like it either.

What's wrong with you all??

The umpa lumpas (sp? - and they don't deserve a capital letter) are evil and scary IMHO

Erm. How can you hate a movie so much that you've never seen?

Actually, I hate all the movies I've never seen.

a far as the film is concerned...WTF did you expect? Of course it was gonna be crap!

I have seen the old one, just not the new one

well gotta head off for my work-out, so I don't get ompa-loompa ass.

Tschüss

@Treehugger
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/onpc/oompa_loompa.jpg[/img]
Come on, they're cute...you know you want to adopt one!!

Sounds exactly like the charachter he played in Pirates of the Carribean - I thought "is this a gay pirate?"

@3Lions
For the love of GOD!!!
Stop it, stop it now!
Do you want me to have nightmares tonight?? I spasm and kick out really hard if I have a scary dream.

That photo should come with a warning

*shudder* *cringe*

Have to agree with you treehugger. Loved the original, especially under the influence of various psychotropic substances but the Oompa Loompas are extremely creepy!

Oompa Loompa doompadee doo
I've got another puzzle for you
Oompa Loompa doompadah dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me

What do you get from a glut of TV?
A pain in the neck and an IQ of three
Why don't you try simply reading a book?
Or could you just not bear to look?

You'll get no
You'll get no
You'll get no
You'll get no
You'll get no commercials

Oompa Loompa Doompadee Dah
If you're not greedy you will go far
You will live in happiness too
Like the Oompa
Oompa Loompa doompadee do

Should we change that to "What fo you get from a glut of TT?"

i've always wondered why people have fuzzy memories of gene wilder's version of that character. he seemed to me to be kind of creepy & mean.

I never actually read Roald Dahls original book, but from my understanding, the film is closer to the book than the original film was.

Not read it for years, but I'll echo 3 Lions statement - I met the Editor on the film (Chris Lebenzon) a few months ago and he told me that the aim was to be truer to the book - and the book is pretty fucking weird - Willy Wonka isn't much more than a child killer who just kills nasty kids...

Read most all of Roald Dahl's work ... total nutcase ... all his books are very dark (especially for their time) ... but the original is so popular and Gene Wilder so insane in the original it's hard to imagine anyone supplanting him.

@jimbo - Did the editor give you any insights as to what he thought of the movie? Besides it being closer to the book?

hummm, did I slam this movie and this guy is your friend???

just saw the movie the other night...i thought it was fucking hilarious and entertaining...i don't remember the original at all since i saw it ages and ages ago, and i am kind of glad, had sort of a "clean slate" for viewing this one
jonny depp is a nutbag as always and thank god, i don't know any other actor who could have pulled off ed wood, hunter s. thompson, captain jack sparrow and now this. i mean from the looks of it it is kind of a hollywood-sy movie, probably a big-budget and such, but you don't get that feeling from watching it, rather "trippy" and depp's wanka is completely fucked up.."papa...is that you...papa??!"
i totally don't agree that there was no substance to the kids and parents, i think as far as social comentary goes, their relevance was brilliant for today, what with the video-game-tv-obssessed-ego-maniac kids one can find dime-a-dozen back in the states. (don't know much about them in europe). plus i don't think willy wonka is ever supposed to be warm and fuzzy...he doesn't like kids.
i gotta watch the original asap though. but this one is worth a look i think.

and i read this book as a kid, remembered thinking where is that elevator taking them. or was that another book?
but in the original film, i remember thinking too, this willie wonka guy is scary, the way he tortures the children. didn't one eat a piece of gum and bloat up? very weird film indeed.

I enjoyed it, but because I have seen the old version so often, I was impatiently awaiting each scene in order to see how Tim Burton visualized it. I also enjoyed seeing the boy from Düsseldorf because that outside shot that has Düsseldorf written on it was filmed in my girlfriend's town of Gengenbach!!

Loved it. I thought it was hillarious and Johnny Depp was awesome, as usual. I'm also a big Tim Burton fan, so I really liked the look and feel of it.

I know the man who spent 18 months digitally animating the squirrels, some shots real some not...

Well the squirrels were the only part that I actually enjoyed, in this remake.

I sure did miss the uplifting soda pop scene. Though I don't believe that is in the origional book, which I have never read.

I liked this one more than the other movie, but I did miss the scenes of the Frauenkirche from Karlsplatz. Ah well. Still very nice.

And all of you who haven't read the book, read it. It's better than either movie. Roald Dahl is brilliant.

The darkness of Johnny Depp's character was superb. I loved this version of the film. Many things about it were similar to the original, but the way they treated that character was amazing.

@tartan those squirrals were bloody good.

I didn't find him dark at all, just a bizarre character. A gay willy Wanker?

And what was up with the flashbacks...Has someone been dropping too much acid?

My God, my braces never looked like that! Horrible!!!

I agree completely - laughed my way throught the whole thing.

Great film and to echo 3lions and jimbo it is much more true to the book - apparently only one scene was left out (the one where charlie and grandad float up the chimney towards the fan)

I also thought Christopher Lee was excellent - don't know if anyone noticed - but there's one shot where hes Lecturing to Charlie about sweets being bad and then at the end of the lecture quick as a flash pulls a little smile - its just the exact same expression Depp pulls throughout the film when he pulls those sudden smiles - tiny split second expression but full of subtle meaning. Lots of little subtlteies like that - love that ! I mean Charlie being so good and his family being so poor yet so good-hearted. They were laying it on with a trowel !

And I loved the oompa-loompas. just fucking hilarious (yet manacing too!). the whole thing was so over the top it was great.

One other point to note - the songs in this version were all Roal Dahl's original songs fromt he book. The famous oompa-loompah song from the first film was not in the book and was made up for the film.

Edit: Line removed for potential spoilage of fast joke

He said he thought it was a great movie - but he would, wouldn't he? And no, he's not a friend - our paths crossed through work.

Grandpa Joe in the new one has got to be the fellow who played chess in the park in that flash cartoon... I'll find it sometime. Oh, it's Pixar, not flash: http://www.pixar.com/shorts/gg/index.html
And his name is David Kelly.

I liked the new version, but was indeed glad that I already knew the words to the OL songs.

bit late on this, but only saw it the other night.

loved the books ás a kid. Roald Dahl was a genius who really understood how children see the world as well as being able to charicature various personalities. Anything by him beats the shit out of the recent harry potter rubbish. note the marvellous names of the different kids.

the movie was quite good with the exception of the oompa lumpas. they sucked in this one and as implied earlier it was hard to hear the wondeful song lyrics.

prefer the wilder film, but thats usual. we are conditioned in our youth.