Saturday October 22, 2011

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- Caught it on ABC Family and was able to appreciate it more this time than ever before. Burton adapts the film from the book, making it worthy of watching on it's own, and completely different from it's original, kind of making it the perfect kind of remake. What can I say, I really enjoyed Burton's symmetrical designs for backgrounds and the dark humor of John August's tight script. I might not have dug Johnny Depp's crazed version of Willy Wonka, but to be fair, this is probably how he would have come out if he had the childhood that is portrayed in the film. Maybe. I accept it. Also, David Kelly's performance of Grandpa Joe wasn't as good as Jack Albertson's, but that's small potatoes by comparison to just about the perfect cast of child actors I've seen in a film. Freddie Highmore has always done a good job playing innocent, but Charlie Bucket is probably the best of all those roles. Just as well, AnnaSophia Robb, Julia Winter, Jordan Fry, and Philip Wiegratz have all done such a good job with their roles, that I can hardly remember the former cast. Also, I'm glad Burton removed the disturbing-ness of the Boat Scene… to replace it with the horrific sight of Puppets burning, and the children's odd shapes when departing the factory. At least I can laugh through one version. Nice work.



- Jeff Bassin