Syniks
14-07-2005, 21:16
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0507140121jul14,1,7525019.story
SNIP If many children's stories -- including some of the 1971 "Willy Wonka" -- seem overly sugary and condescending, Dahl's book has that darker, more dangerous feel that laces the Grimm and Andersen fairy tales or the early Disney features. Before he wrote children's books, in fact, Dahl was a specialist in witty, urbane terror tales ("Lamb to the Slaughter," "Man From the South"). Much of his work teeters on the edge of sadism or horror.
The 1971 "Wonka" had a droll script by Dahl himself and that comic, fey-star performance by Wilder, in his hysterical prime. But it also had a cheesy, 1960s Saturday afternoon kiddie-show look that matched the sometimes saccharine Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley songs (which included Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Candy Man"). Here, everything looks magical, the hovel and streets as well as the palace/factory.
Burton and producers Brad Grey and Richard D. Zanuck have also cast the movie with real savvy. Christopher Lee gives a sinister, even tragic look to Dr. Wonka, Willy's demanding father. And Burton's flair for slap-happy theatricality is on the money here -- whether with those revolting children, or with James Fox's stuffy discomfort as Veruca's dad, Kelly's old-man glee as Grandpa Joe and Bonham Carter's lower-depths beauty as Mrs. Bucket.
No one tops Depp. He plays Wonka like a daffy man-child, brilliant and petulant, always in control but only because he owns everything in sight. Depp's line readings, as in "Pirates of the Caribbean," are disarmingly twisted and unexpected; he bends phrases, just as Wonka springs traps and double meanings. As in his first "Batman," Burton fashions a wonderful pop mythology on screen. But the film works so well because all its makers (including executive producer Felicity Dahl, the writer's daughter) are so faithful to Dahl's vision and mood. It's an exhilarating and fanciful movie that never drowns in money or technology. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," in fact, gives you everything you should want of it, except the actual taste of chocolate. You can bring that yourself.
I'm really looking forward to this.
SNIP If many children's stories -- including some of the 1971 "Willy Wonka" -- seem overly sugary and condescending, Dahl's book has that darker, more dangerous feel that laces the Grimm and Andersen fairy tales or the early Disney features. Before he wrote children's books, in fact, Dahl was a specialist in witty, urbane terror tales ("Lamb to the Slaughter," "Man From the South"). Much of his work teeters on the edge of sadism or horror.
The 1971 "Wonka" had a droll script by Dahl himself and that comic, fey-star performance by Wilder, in his hysterical prime. But it also had a cheesy, 1960s Saturday afternoon kiddie-show look that matched the sometimes saccharine Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley songs (which included Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Candy Man"). Here, everything looks magical, the hovel and streets as well as the palace/factory.
Burton and producers Brad Grey and Richard D. Zanuck have also cast the movie with real savvy. Christopher Lee gives a sinister, even tragic look to Dr. Wonka, Willy's demanding father. And Burton's flair for slap-happy theatricality is on the money here -- whether with those revolting children, or with James Fox's stuffy discomfort as Veruca's dad, Kelly's old-man glee as Grandpa Joe and Bonham Carter's lower-depths beauty as Mrs. Bucket.
No one tops Depp. He plays Wonka like a daffy man-child, brilliant and petulant, always in control but only because he owns everything in sight. Depp's line readings, as in "Pirates of the Caribbean," are disarmingly twisted and unexpected; he bends phrases, just as Wonka springs traps and double meanings. As in his first "Batman," Burton fashions a wonderful pop mythology on screen. But the film works so well because all its makers (including executive producer Felicity Dahl, the writer's daughter) are so faithful to Dahl's vision and mood. It's an exhilarating and fanciful movie that never drowns in money or technology. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," in fact, gives you everything you should want of it, except the actual taste of chocolate. You can bring that yourself.
I'm really looking forward to this.