Behind the times
Ok, so I am a little behind the times. I *FINALLY*, just yesterday had the opportunity to watch the new Willy Wonka movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Wow!
They took a wonderfully eccentric, yet warm Willy Wonka character, best played by the brilliant Gene Wilder and made him into a somewhat creepy, dysfunctional psychopath with some OCD tendencies, played by the equally creepy Johnny Depp and his annoying fake teeth.
They also butchered the really cool Ooompa Loompas and turned them into some really ugly middle aged Indian guys with bad hair who can’t sing (*OR DANCE*). If that wasn’t bad enough, the same 4 Indian guys were reused over and over again in the movie and, since the OL’s are supposed to be short, they resorted to camera trickery to give that illusion. The problem with that is poor camera work which portrays them in several different perspectives and sizes that are inconsistent throughout the film.
The worst part of all this is I just learned that the film received an academy award nomination, although not for the story or the acting thankfully. What were they thinking!
At any rate, obviously, do not bother with this movie if you haven’t yet seen it. I actually feel dumber for having watched it. Go and watch the one with Gene Wilder in it. It’s what the movie should be.
Actually….all of the Oompa Loompa’s were played by 1 guy. His name is Deep Roy. I actually liked it. If you read the book, it’s a little closer to Roald Dahl’s vision. Dahl was not at all pleased about the first Willie Wonka which is why they were not able to make it until after he died.