"Charlie"

I LOVE Tim Burton so to me, this movie looked great. There, something nice has been said.

I wanted to see this remake just for the special effects alone. That part of it was fine (but I thought the blueberry scene wasn’t really impressive nor was the TV part). Now that I know Tim Burton made Planet of the Apes, the TV scene at least makes more sense now but what was the rock show thing about?

Charlie’s “new” ending wasn’t that great and I’m not sure why they called it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie was in it less this time around (though I liked the new Charlie more).

I guess the new Chocolate Factory was supposed to be more like the book but I don’t get why. Seems to me the 1st movie did a better job of bringing the story to life on the big screen. And the biggest part of the back story in the new one wasn’t in the book from what I understand so I’m a little confused about what the Tim Burton’s storyline goals.

Wow, on to the Oompa Loompas... Deep Roy was not so great that I needed to see that much of him. Besides, how many movies do little people get to be in these days- why cut them out? The songs by the Oompa Lommpa were NOT good this time around and in my opinion the old songs were GREAT. I miss them.

After seeing this I can still think of a lot of ways to make it better. Maybe someone will remake it for the third time? I remembered so much of the movies from my childhood because it was simple and straightforward; it had catchy songs and looked like a child’s wonderland. I was hoping my kids would get the same thing from it and more… I was wrong. I’m sure they won’t ever even remember watching this movie.

Oh yeah, Grandpa Joe was also terrible. I liked the old guy from before SO MUCH BETTER- his songs and even his dance were great. The squirrel scene was disturbing in this new one and the bratty kids weren’t interesting enough and their parent’s roles didn’t make sense. Johnny Depp did come off seeming a lot like Michael Jackson but got less yucky as time went on. Still I like Gene Wilder's version of the character a ZILLION times more and I didn’t think Gene did the best job that could have been. Hate to say it, but he is a little hard to look at and was a little meaner than I was comfortable with as a child and even as an adult.

What did you think? I could say more- like the Candyman part was lacking, the chocolate palace was a goofy, and the back story on the Oompa Lommpa was not good either. And why bring back the Dad- the house was too crowded, etc etc etc.

Remember the whipped milk/cow? That was funny but not all that great for kids to see.