Post by Kulock on Jul 16, 2005 5:24:50 GMT -5
I'm surprised there wasn't already a thread for this.
I hit the theaters on Friday night with my mum and sis. The theater was making a pretty big promotion of it, with a line-up to get a small treat and dip it in a chocolate fountain beforehand (most of it was on a stick of some sort so people weren't sticking their hands in, but logically that's something you'd do early on, just to be safe). Eh, the chocolate wasn't that great, but it was mostly for show, and the kids (and the parents) seemed to enjoy it a lot. Most of the kid-less were basically just shoving it in their mouth and heading to the theater.
As for the movie itself, I really liked it. I'll be blunt, I expected kind of a flop, and we were mainly going because my sis digs the Depp. ;P But no, they made a charming reinterpretation of the book. Granted, the kids go in pretty much the same way, and you're already expecting a few basic elements, but while Wilder was more of a "knowing guide" (with a dark undertone), Depp plays more of an eccentric, and does get more explanation and story to him and his life, which makes things far more interesting over the movie original if you've never read the book.
From what I've been told and read online, the movie seems to stick much closer to the original book, taking out a lot of the extra subplots and sequences that the original movie added in, and there's definitely nothing as creepy as the tunnel sequence or the "bitch-out" over taking a sip of the soda. The Oompa-Loompa songs are the original book lyrics (so far less lecturing) set to new music that works quite well. It's not as easy to understand the lyrics, but that does help push away the overt "MIND YOUR MANNERS" tone of the first movie. It's still there, subtly, because it was in the book. But they don't beat you over the head with it.
Speaking of beating you over the head, there is a lot of slapstick, often on the part of Wonka, but it comes off much better than you'd think, and you do get some genuine laughs from it if you don't know something's coming. (I'm just glad the "fart in the chocolate" in the trailer I found annoying doesn't actually happen in the movie. That didn't work for me, and I think it was just something literally added in for that terrible trailer.)
I liked some other aspects of it, but I don't think I should say until the movie's been out for a while. Even if I spoiler-marked it (assuming this board has that functionality), people usually just give up and look, and you don't want a few of the surprises ruined so easily. It really was a surprise hit for me, and I recommend you check it out. It's a nice amusing all-ages movie. That doesn't mean kiddy, it's just a good movie, and one of a small number lately that you could take a kid to without worry. (Far less scary and mean than the Gene Wilder take.)
As a bonus, one of the trailers is a new Skrat skit, a teaser for Ice Age II.
I hit the theaters on Friday night with my mum and sis. The theater was making a pretty big promotion of it, with a line-up to get a small treat and dip it in a chocolate fountain beforehand (most of it was on a stick of some sort so people weren't sticking their hands in, but logically that's something you'd do early on, just to be safe). Eh, the chocolate wasn't that great, but it was mostly for show, and the kids (and the parents) seemed to enjoy it a lot. Most of the kid-less were basically just shoving it in their mouth and heading to the theater.
As for the movie itself, I really liked it. I'll be blunt, I expected kind of a flop, and we were mainly going because my sis digs the Depp. ;P But no, they made a charming reinterpretation of the book. Granted, the kids go in pretty much the same way, and you're already expecting a few basic elements, but while Wilder was more of a "knowing guide" (with a dark undertone), Depp plays more of an eccentric, and does get more explanation and story to him and his life, which makes things far more interesting over the movie original if you've never read the book.
From what I've been told and read online, the movie seems to stick much closer to the original book, taking out a lot of the extra subplots and sequences that the original movie added in, and there's definitely nothing as creepy as the tunnel sequence or the "bitch-out" over taking a sip of the soda. The Oompa-Loompa songs are the original book lyrics (so far less lecturing) set to new music that works quite well. It's not as easy to understand the lyrics, but that does help push away the overt "MIND YOUR MANNERS" tone of the first movie. It's still there, subtly, because it was in the book. But they don't beat you over the head with it.
Speaking of beating you over the head, there is a lot of slapstick, often on the part of Wonka, but it comes off much better than you'd think, and you do get some genuine laughs from it if you don't know something's coming. (I'm just glad the "fart in the chocolate" in the trailer I found annoying doesn't actually happen in the movie. That didn't work for me, and I think it was just something literally added in for that terrible trailer.)
I liked some other aspects of it, but I don't think I should say until the movie's been out for a while. Even if I spoiler-marked it (assuming this board has that functionality), people usually just give up and look, and you don't want a few of the surprises ruined so easily. It really was a surprise hit for me, and I recommend you check it out. It's a nice amusing all-ages movie. That doesn't mean kiddy, it's just a good movie, and one of a small number lately that you could take a kid to without worry. (Far less scary and mean than the Gene Wilder take.)
As a bonus, one of the trailers is a new Skrat skit, a teaser for Ice Age II.