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Topic: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip (Read 342 times)

Rhune
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Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« on: Jul 17^th, 2005, 4:20pm »

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Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
Johnny Depp, Tim Burton provide visions of excellence
By Paul Clinton
For CNN.com

Friday, July 15, 2005; Posted: 10:38 a.m. EDT (14:38 GMT)
(CNN) -- Director Tim Burton is now batting .500 in one of Hollywood's favorite games -- remaking films.

Burton didn't do well in his first remake attempt, striking out with his 2001 re-do of the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes." But now, on a much sweeter note, he has solidly connected in topping the 1971 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's story, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (a film that was titled "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory").

Burton and screenwriter John August ("Big Fish") have stayed fairly true to Dahl's original fantasy tale, but they've also improved -- with the full backing of Dahl's widow Felicity -- the ending of the original book and added flashbacks to Wonka's childhood.

I can't imagine anyone other than Burton attempting this project. He's already tackled, as producer, another of Dahl's whimsical books, "James and the Giant Peach." Moreover, very few directors can top Burton' imagination when it comes to creating an alternate universe on film.

He's also had experience in telling a story about a child-like man who dresses in a funny way and relates to children: "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" was his directorial debut 20 years ago.

Mysterious eccentric
As with many children's books, "Charlie" is -- at its core -- a great morality tale, if one covered in mounds of chocolate.

The story isn't set in any particular city or time. Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp), an exceedingly eccentric man, owns the largest chocolate factory in the world, a place that makes the most delicious candies in the universe. When rival candymakers start to steal his secrets, he abruptly closes the factory and fires all his workers.

For years the factory stands empty, but then suddenly it mysteriously comes back to life. Even more mysteriously, no one ever enters or leaves the factory.

No one is more fascinated with Wonka and chocolates than young Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), who lives in a dilapidated shack with his mother (Helena Bonham Carter), his father (Noah Taylor) and his four grandparents, including his endearing Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), who used to work for Wonka.

One day an announcement comes out that Wonka is opening his factory -- for just one day -- to five lucky children, each of whom will be accompanied by one parent. Each child will also get a lifetime supply of chocolates and one of them will win an enormous prize. All the children have to do is find one of five chocolate bars with golden tickets among all the Wonka bars in the world.

The announcement prompts a frenzy of chocolate buying, which produces five winning children: the gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), the spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), the perfectionist gum-chewer Violet Beauregard (Annasophia Robb), the video-addicted Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), and -- finally -- Charlie. Off they all go to visit the factory and meet the mysterious Mr. Wonka.

Their -- and our -- first glimpse of Willy is a bit startling. With his white face makeup, high-pitched voice, strange clothing and Prince Valiant hairdo, Depp seems like nothing so much as ... Michael Jackson.

Depp, fortunately, is such a good actor that the initial impression soon wears off. He gives a risky, and terrific, performance.

The factory's interior is an incredible monument to the talents of Burton and production designer Alex McDowell. It's a utopia where everything from fudge mountains to chocolate waterfalls is edible. The mind-boggling sets really do have to be seen to be believed.

On their game
Once inside, the children learn the secret of how Wonka runs the factory. The chocolate mogul has imported little people, Oompa-Loompas, from distant Loompaland. With amazing skill, infinite patience and the help of motion-capture technology, one actor, Deep Roy, plays the entire community of Oompa-Loompas as they sing, dance and work around the factory. It's stunning work.

I also have to mention a remarkable scene in "The Nut Room." Burton found animal experts who actually succeeded in training 20 squirrels to shell walnuts while sitting on stools over a conveyer belt. Several more of the animals were computer-generated, and effects were used for some movements, but nevertheless squirrels, with their short attention spans, are extremely hard to train. Trust me: you've never seen anything quite like this.

Those familiar with the story know what happens next: the children are dismissed, one by one, in appropriately nasty ways. Thus the way is clear for Wonka to achieve the plan he had all along.

Highmore, who made the whole world cry in "Finding Neverland" (also starring Depp, who wanted him for "Charlie"), is gifted with a deeply intuitive talent, and possesses a face that holds the screen even when he has no dialogue.

When it comes to filmmaking, Burton and Depp are both men with unique visions. Sometimes the results have been far from perfect, but they're almost always interesting. Burton has taken us into territory never before imagined, and Depp -- a thoughtful character actor who happens to have the brooding dark looks of a leading man -- has delivered layered, interesting and compelling performances that work spot-on with the material.

In the case of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," they're both on their game. It's a beautifully executed, visually astounding film about love and family -- making it the best film out there this summer for families everywhere.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a Warner Bros. film. Warner Bros. is a division of Time Warner, as is CNN.

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #1 on: Jul 17^th, 2005, 4:21pm »

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'Charlie' is golden ticket at box office

Sunday, July 17, 2005; Posted: 3:58 p.m. EDT (19:58 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Willy Wonka gave movie-goers their sugar fix for the weekend.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," starring Johnny Depp as candyman Wonka, had a sweet debut of $55.4 million, helping Hollywood make a dent in a box-office downturn that has lingered most of the year.

Opening as a solid No. 2 was Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn's comedy "Wedding Crashers," which took in $32.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The two new movies bumped the previous weekend's No. 1 flick, "Fantastic Four," which slipped to third place with $22.7 million, lifting its 10-day total to $100.1 million.

Overall business was up solidly, the second-straight weekend Hollywood revenues rose after a slump that had lasted since late February.

After a slight uptick at the box office the previous weekend, the top 12 movies took in $151.4 million, a rise of 7.5 percent from the same weekend last year, when "I, Robot" premiered as the No. 1 movie.

"People are just waiting for the right kinds of movies to come along, and they will show up in big numbers," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Director Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is the second adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved children's book, following Gene Wilder's 1971 version "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

For Depp, whose earlier collaborations with Burton include "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood," "Charlie" marked his biggest opening ever, surpassing the $46.6 million debut for his 2003 blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

The movie received high marks from critics for Burton's fanciful visuals and Depp's quirky rendition of the anti-social Wonka, backed by a roster that includes Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor and James Fox.

While "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" locked up the family audience, the R-rated "Wedding Crashers" gave adult crowds a dose of raunchier humor. The movie stars Wilson and Vaughn as men who crash strangers' weddings to pick up women.

Distributor New Line had briefly mulled whether to tone the movie down to a PG-13 rating, but test audiences gave the racy film a thumbs up, said Russell Schwartz, the studio's head of marketing. New Line and CNN are units of Time Warner.

"There's been such a move toward more sanitized movies, so I think the R rating actually helped," Schwartz said. "And it's not a hard R. I think it of more as a soft R. It's a movie that wears the R on its sleeve very proudly."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #2 on: Jul 17^th, 2005, 4:21pm »

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I saw this opening night with my boys, it was marvelous! Worth every penny of my $10 and I'll probably pay to see it again.

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yesteach
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #3 on: Jul 17^th, 2005, 6:18pm »

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We loved it... definitely one I'll buy when it comes out..

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Boradamer
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #4 on: Jul 26^th, 2005, 4:16pm »

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We saw it over the weekend with my kids and they each brought a friend.

I wasn't sure the kids would like it as it was a bit removed from the original version but they all loved it.

The wife and I liked it but it was a bit odd for us and we liked the first one so much that this one just paled a bit to us but it was still a good movie.

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Rhune
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #5 on: Jul 28^th, 2005, 7:29pm »

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The first one scared the bejeezus outta me when I was a kid...those creeeepy oompa loompahs... no thanks.

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avsfanbuck
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #6 on: Jul 29^th, 2005, 12:33am »

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I saw this movie and I loved it. My mom didn't like it but Johnny Deep sold me as the best Willy Wonka.

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AoM
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #7 on: Jul 29^th, 2005, 7:57am »

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there were no Oompa Loompas??? Maybe i don't want to see this after all....

« Last Edit: Jul 29^th, 2005, 7:58am by AoM »

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Boradamer
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #8 on: Jul 29^th, 2005, 8:09am »

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The Oompa Loompa's were in the movie, just different from the first one.

In the original they were played by various actors and were orange with green hair. In this one all of them were played by one actor, Deep Roy. They filmed him in various poses and then used computer graphics to duplicate him for large scenes. He did not have orange skin or green hair but was well tanned with dark hair. I think it was well done and very funny in parts.

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FLORIDAGIRL
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Re: Review: 'Charlie' a sweet trip
« Reply #9 on: Jul 29^th, 2005, 1:24pm »

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I wasn't really into the original movie with Gene Wylder, but my 12 year old wants to go. She never wants to go to a movie with the rest of the family!!! I am taking her tonight.

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