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First, there's Gene Wilder. Adorable, in a slightly befuddled way. Beautiful
blue eyes. A disconnected but appropriate Willy Wonka, kinda odd and even scary
when he needs to be, but also warm and friendly otherwise. Pay attention to
this attribute, it will come up again later. Oh, and he can sing, which
helps, since his is the musical version. With real music. And songs.
Singable songs. That people can sing. Mr. Otter and I did...we sang songs
from Willy Wonka ATCF all the way home from the theatre where we had just seen
Charlie ATCF because of course, Danny Elfman wrote the music for Charlie ATCF
and none of the songs were either memorable or singable by normal people.
Not like The Candyman. or the Oompa Loompa Song. Or I've Got A Golden
Ticket.
But I digress. Gene Wilder. Adorable. Quirky. Pretty odd. Cute, but not
cuddly. A very, very good choice for Willy Wonka.
And then there's Johnny Depp. Serious honey. VERY VERY serious honey. About
whom I USED to say, even if he's in a bad movie, he's worth seeing. (From Hell and The Ninth
Gate spring IMMEDIATELY to mind, and I so wish they wouldn't...)
Anyway. Depp. Brilliant. Good in kids' movies, good in adult movies, you'd
think he'd be a natural in this.
But first: let's take a little side trip, because if you missed the trailers
for this movie, you missed one of the most important don'ts in show
business: if you are doing hair and costume, don't make the star look like
someone else in the public eye who is not, um, universally admired.
Case in point:
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| Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka |
Michael Jackson as whoever he thinks he is today |
Oh my. The number of people to whom I pointed this out, and who pointed it
out to me...I would not be surprised if the box office for this movie went
straight down the toilet from the point when they showed the first trailers.
I was certainly put off. But no, I said, it's Johnny Depp. Give him a fair
shot. This must be a coincidence. Certainly he isn't actually TRYING to
emulate Mr. Jackson in this film...
And of course, he wasn't...but the similarities, not only his
hair/makeup/look, but also the 'boy who didn't grow up' thing, and him owning his own 'amusement park',
as it were...just a
little too close to the actual Legend of Michael to be entirely ignored.
And you know, this whole version of the story was just cold and unemotional.
Granted, one doesn't really want to get too close to Willy Wonka, heaven
knows what might happen...but there is a lot of closeness and warmth between
Charlie and the members of his family...none of which comes through at all
in this version. And at the end of the movie, Charlie wins the grand prize
of the factory and everything...simply through ATTRITION? Not by being good,
not by loving the factory and all it stands for, not because he and Wonka
form a bond in their short acquaintence? nope, didn't work for me.
The whole movie was a special effects fest (and don't get me wrong, I
loved what they did with Deep Roy as all the Oompa Loompas), and there was
much more backstory for Wonka, although clumsily added with him spacing out
during flashbacks...but ultimately, this is a movie without a heart...and
although that is entirely appropriate for Dahl's writing, the alternative
with Gene Wilder is so infinitely more appealing, while staying true to the
original story, that there is no contest.
Gene Wilder vs. Johnny Depp: I never thought I'd be saying this, but
Advantage: Gene Wilder
This is just reminiscence, you can skip it if you want
*Okay, okay...remember, we didn't live in a town with a movie theatre...and
my mom hated to go out to see movies, so they were few and far between until
I learned to drive. Although Dad liked musicals and would take me to one
once in a while. So any movie I saw in a movie theatre as a kid was a BIG DEAL.
In no particular order, here are all the movies I saw between when I was about 8 (or
whenever the oldest of them came out) and when I turned 16:
- Patton and M*A*S*H (double bill for these two, loved them)
- Planet of the Apes (I was staying with family friends, this is the first drive-in movie I remember seeing)
- The Sound of Music
- My Fair Lady
- Camelot
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- On A Clear Day, You Can See Forever
- Fantastic Voyage (relatives had come to town)
- The Poseidon Adventure and Silent Running (these two with my older sister)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (with my best friend and her dad)
- The Three Musketeers (with my best friend and her dad again)
- Yellow Submarine
Okay, that's more than 10...but I really don't think there were more than
that...and notice that there's pretty much nothing on the list that was
actually intended for kids, except this one? I saw all the Disney stuff as
an adult, which was kind of wierd, actually. Anyway. A bit of Otter's past,
for your delectation.
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