on Willy Wonka
A repost of a response to a comment made that Johnny Depp/Tim Burton's adaptation of the character is just as admirable, though different, than Gene Wilder's (which is a very wrong opinion).
"Girl, even if Burton's film was supposed to focus the film on Charlie's perspective, the newest adaptation was still a failure--because it still focused on Wonka. Just a different, every-case worse Wonka (though I do grant Depp looked like he played the character Burton told him to play admirably).
If the film had really focused on Charlie, he would have said more, reacted more, and done more inside the factory. He and Grandpa Joe would have stolen the Fizzy Lifting Drink setting up a scene of Charlie's redemption at the end. With which, there would have been no horrid additions of Wonka's childhood.
Burton's decisions seemed at almost every turn to distance from the 1971 classic. I've read that Burton both hated and never saw the '71 gem. Had he not been so adamant in reversing Wonka's role from that as solitary genius to crippled child-man there would have been a more memorable entrance scene, a terrifying boat ride, and the ending that let us acknowledge that even the good ones might make mistakes but what sets them apart is they atone and redeem when they realize.
I'll repeat: if Burton had decided to re-adapt the idea under all new names and locations (thus leaving the '71 masterpiece alone) I would let it slide. Hell, I might even believe the things he did right outweigh the things he did wrong. But as it is, what we now have is an unnecessary modern remake that will likely replace the '71 "original" in the minds of generations to come. Wilder's impeccable characterization will be replaced with Depp's sad agreeance to abide by a misguided director's choices on television, more copies will be more visible at Blockbusters, and the next generation of 10 year olds will try proving me wrong in believing Burton has moved to destroy a classic.
The biggest shame is Burton /did/ get the sets right--pretty much every single one of them. Especially the boat scene! But he ripped out the heart and soul that Wilder managed to enhance a damned musical adaptation with, and a film's graphics does not a classic it make."
"Girl, even if Burton's film was supposed to focus the film on Charlie's perspective, the newest adaptation was still a failure--because it still focused on Wonka. Just a different, every-case worse Wonka (though I do grant Depp looked like he played the character Burton told him to play admirably).
If the film had really focused on Charlie, he would have said more, reacted more, and done more inside the factory. He and Grandpa Joe would have stolen the Fizzy Lifting Drink setting up a scene of Charlie's redemption at the end. With which, there would have been no horrid additions of Wonka's childhood.
Burton's decisions seemed at almost every turn to distance from the 1971 classic. I've read that Burton both hated and never saw the '71 gem. Had he not been so adamant in reversing Wonka's role from that as solitary genius to crippled child-man there would have been a more memorable entrance scene, a terrifying boat ride, and the ending that let us acknowledge that even the good ones might make mistakes but what sets them apart is they atone and redeem when they realize.
I'll repeat: if Burton had decided to re-adapt the idea under all new names and locations (thus leaving the '71 masterpiece alone) I would let it slide. Hell, I might even believe the things he did right outweigh the things he did wrong. But as it is, what we now have is an unnecessary modern remake that will likely replace the '71 "original" in the minds of generations to come. Wilder's impeccable characterization will be replaced with Depp's sad agreeance to abide by a misguided director's choices on television, more copies will be more visible at Blockbusters, and the next generation of 10 year olds will try proving me wrong in believing Burton has moved to destroy a classic.
The biggest shame is Burton /did/ get the sets right--pretty much every single one of them. Especially the boat scene! But he ripped out the heart and soul that Wilder managed to enhance a damned musical adaptation with, and a film's graphics does not a classic it make."
posted by SJ at 7/18/2005 12:21:00 PM
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