Last night I finally went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was a bit of an adventure, as many outings including 7 people, two cars, and a torrential rain storm can be. We hydroplaned all the way down to Reading to see the epic remake in IMAX. I love IMAX. I saw Batman Begins there and now I just can't go back. There's something about the cushy seats, the ginormous screen, and the 3-D trailers that just gets to me.
So we get there, navigate through Jordan's furniture, stand in line, and the power goes out. Zack and I took the immediate resulting chaos as an opportune time to sneak in the theatre. Our efforts at stealing were unrewarded though as we soon realized the power was not coming on anytime soon. So the whole mess of us spent about 20 minutes perusing dining room tables, bed sets, and armoires in the dark with sales people cautiously eyeing us.
Around 8:00 we decided to go back up to Newington and catch the 9:35 show. I was zoning out and we took 128 instead of 95 and by the time I realized it we were in Salem, MA. Lucky for us, I used to live down there and we soon found our way back in the right direction. Once we got back in home territory we had some time to kill before the movie so we stopped in at TGIFriday's for a drink. I ordered a very large blood-orange margarita and gulped it.
Three hours after leaving the house we finally arrived at our destination, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Now, it could have been because I was overly tired and anxious from sitting in the car forever or because by this point I was slightly intoxicated but I didn't really like it all that much. I hated that there was only one Oompa Loompa. I'm not a fan of digitally doing things that you can do with people. It just seemed kind of lazy. How cool would the dancing scenes been if they had featured individual Loompas?
I'm normally a big fan of Johnny Depp, but his performance just didn't do it for me in this one. He did an excellent job conveying the child-freak aspect of Wonka's personality, but I felt like he failed to portray the real genius that is Wonka. He was a bit insipid and feeble minded in this one. I was also expecting a little bit more in the visual department. I was hoping to see some wacky machinery and boiling cauldrons in the invention room and a lot more variety in the candy forest. Where was the lickable wallpaper? And, what happened to the Fizzy Lifting Drink and Slugworth? Were they not so much a part of the original book or something?
I did love the squirrels though. I thought they were excellent so fast and furious, frenzied yet with purpose. I also enjoyed the triptastic blue swirl floor and the yellow Loompas dancing happily around the hole. And, Charlie. Charlie was great. He did a fabulous job looking poor and pitiful yet honest and true to his heart.
All in all I give Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 3 beans out of 5.
1 comment:
"We are the music makers. And we are the dreamers of the dreams."
"Springtime is every little thing time. Birds sing, a ding. Sweet lovers love."
AND AND AND it wasn't "I can't understand you dear boy. All you do is mumble." It was "you need to open your mouth a little more widely when you speak."
Screw it.
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