A classic through and through.
My favorite scene:
I seem somewhat uncommon in that I actually prefer the Tim Burton version. It makes a curious stab at cohesiveness. The original feels like some kind of allegorical journey through hell – but then I can see how that might have a certain appeal too.
Previously on BoingBoing:
And for good measure:
I know this sounds weaselly but the two films are so incredibly different it’s like comparing Fail Safe and Doctor Strangelove. It may be uncommon but it doesn’t surprise me you prefer the Tim Burton version. Each one appeals to different tastes.
The one thing that disappoints me about both versions is neither one includes this:
“I only hope,” said Mr. Wonka, “that the Oompa-Loompas aren’t using the other Elevator today.”
“What other elevator?” asked Charlie.
“The one that goes the opposite way on the same track as this.”
That’s the bit that always made me feel like Wonka was genuinely insane. He might have just been kidding but I always read that as a comment about how close genius is to madness, and how the two sometimes overlap.
Dahl didn’t like the Wonka film either…
I might be amongst a cultural minority who have seen neither movie, nor read the book. Was the first movie a musical? That would probably explain it since I grew up with a deep dread and distaste for movie musicals, and so fastidiously avoided them.
I wouldn’t call it a musical – the Oompa Loompas have musical numbers, in keeping with the book, but they’re rather dreary and dirge-like in my opinion – highly unlikely to be featured in any kind of show-tunes compilation. The Burton version also has songs, but while they aren’t as creepy, they’re pretty much completely forgettable aside from Deep Roy’s choreography.
It suddenly occurs to me to post this:
I rewatched the original wonka film this week (my kids have chicken pox, so we’re watching a lot of TV). It seemed pretty weird. Probably the most pernicious thing I noticed was the notion that Charlie would find a golden ticket because he “wanted it more”
I think it’s supposed to be about Charlie getting rewarded for his virtue, but the whole thing seemed so weird that by the end I just didn’t know what to make of it.
Sadly, Angelo Muscat, one of the Oompa Loompas, passed away in the late 1970s, however he has a short but memorable résumé - “Dr. Who” TV Episodes, Jonathan Miller’s TV version"Alice in Wonderland", the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour”, the TV masterpiece “The Prisoner” where he was The Butler, and “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory”.
Sounds like it works as an allegory for gambling addiction!
The songs in the Tim Burton version are taken directly from the book.
I never really liked this one, as it deviated a lot from the book which I enjoyed. Book-Wonka seemed more happy-childish-insane whereas film-Wonka seemed more - arsehole.
I didn’t mind the Burton film, although it was quite Burton-by-numbers as most of his films have become…
It’s a true reading. I read the books when I was a kid. And also Roald Dahl’s other “adult” works, which were hilarious and x-rated and awesome. When I read the Willy Wonka books, I realized much the same, that Wonka was insane, or straddling the line of insanity, and wafted back and forth between sane and insane, with Charlie and others never really knowing when or what.
A good comparison would be The Blacklist. Reddington is Willy Wonka, a millionaire-entrepreneur-protagonist-antagonist wafting back and forth between sanity and insanity. He has oompa-loompas. Different kids at the FBI get to check out his “factory” at times by engaging him on projects. Augustus Gloop/Paul Reubens/Mr. Vargas, is the kid who shot Mbe after they both escaped, and got shot in the head instead of being whisked away to a cleanup room until the end of the tour… etc… The parallels between the Blacklist and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are many. It’s not a perfect analogy, since there is no “place” that’s “the factory,” but plot-wise there are so many interesting similarities. Point being, the character that straddles the line between sanity and insanity fascinates. Like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness. And many more.
that Charlie sure was a pernicious knid.
well as a happy-childish-insane person I would just like to point out that almost everyone seems to think I’m an arsehole…strike that, reverse it.
So much fuss made over candy, that never made any sense to me at all. If it was really about the fun and danger and opportunity of psychoactive drugs, though, that makes the most.sense to me.
Chocolate is a psychoactive drug, It’s not a powerful one though.
I always felt that Charlie spending the money he found on chocolate was out of character. But now I think about it, his grandparents would have been getting four state pensions and would also have been able to get disability benefits. His father should have been on unemployment benefit and getting help to get another job. They should also be able to get a council house. Where did all that money go?
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