Sunday, August 21, 2005

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

Note: I won't be writing bout the synopsis of any movies or novels in the future when I post reviews on them. I find it too tedious and boring, and no matter how much I try, I can nv convey the entirety of the movie/novel anyway. I'll go straight to my personal opinions of the material! ;)

Finally, the 1st good movie I've watched this year! Wat a wait... It's past August already! Well, Batman Begins almost made it to be a good movie, but I juz find the dullness surrounding it to be too unsuitable for a superheroes movie, as grim as Batman is supposed to be. Heck, some dark humour would be good! But anyway, I'm not planning to talk bout The Caped Crusader here... I'm talking bout...



Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Well, the fact that it's yet another partnership between Hollywood mad genius director Tim Burton and talented actor Johnny Depp (espeacially offbeat, quirky characters) already makes this movie a must-watched! Think about the movies that are spawned in this wonderful partnership: Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and such! Wat's more, it's based on a popular children's story by Roahl Dahl!

...Alright, I'm not a big fan of the book by Roahl Dahl actually, espeacially when the target readers are kids. I find Willy Wonka a really bad model for kids. Actually, I'm totally disgusted with Mr. Willy Wonka, the genius who created all kinds of wonderful (albeit ridiculous... well, it's a children's story after all) chocolates and candies in his gigantic factory. He gives me an impression of a incredibly ignorant idiot, who has absolutely no respect to the people he dislikes, not to mention totally unsympathetic to the possible dangers than can occur to the kids. In one word, he's a horrible eccentric guy.

Johnny Depp's portrayal, however, remains faithful to the novel and yet, at the same time, is easier for us to symphathize with, thanks to the additional backstory of his past. He is even weirder and more disturbing (almost sinister, which is odd considering how childlike he is at the same time) than the character in the novel, but after knowing more bout his past, the audience can't help but symphatize with his past trauma during his childhood. OK, I won't spoil more bout Willy Wonka! >=)

Other than the incredibly wacky and impressive set designs (not unexpected, considering all the intriguing visuals shown in Tim Burton's last movie Big Fish), another impressive thing bout the movie is the cute (gasp!) Oompa-Loompas. I find them excessively annoying in the book, but the clever reimagining of the musicals (yes, musicals!) they perform is incredibly amusing and entertaining. I find the funniest parts of the movie is when they started their songs/dances after each kids are punished for their bad behaviour! But I have to comment bout the lousy sense of humour of the audience that were with me when I was watching the show: they hardly laugh, as if they didn't catch many of the jokes at all! Boring stupid ppl.. Hahaha..
K, no more spoilers bout the adorable Oompa-Loompas! >=)

And of cuz, the protagonist himself: Charlie Buckett. Freddie Highmore is one child actor that has great potential. He portrays Charlie with such altruism and so full of hope, everyone will start to root for him within the 1st 5 minutes of the show! Oh ya, the opening sequence of the movie is really good too, only lose out to the beautiful drawings in the opening sequence of Spiderman 2.

Overall, the movie is really entertaining and definitely worth a watch. Juz dun, well, expect rationality and logic while watching this. My advice is juz to leave them all behind and enjoy this kid flick turned dark but fun fairy tale! Oh u might wanna warn any kids u're bringing along too... Some of the scenes may be a bit too intense for them! Poor Veruca... Hehe...

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