Terri and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is both a remake of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and a movie version of Roald Dahl's book. Overall, I think I like the new movie with Johnny Depp. FYI, there are some spoilers toward the end, so stop now if you wish to avoid them.
I recently finished reading the book and have to say that Tim Burton has stayed a bit truer to the original novel than Mel Stuart. Given other movies in Burton's repetoire, this isn't really a surprise since he seems to share some of Dahl's apparent irreverence and sadism. Unlike many traditional books of children's fiction, Dahl likes to expose children to certain "adult" characteristics he happened to find repulsive. In fact, in the book (and it's sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Eleveator) our hero, Charlie Bucket, actually doesn't say or do much. The real central figures are the adults and mostly Willy Wonka. The other naughty children also play a very central role.
As we see through the book, Dahl was very interested in exposing children's vices and how parents allow/promote them. The vices are demonstrated through each of the children besides Charlie. Augustus Gloop is a glutton. Varuca Salt is spoiled. Violet Beauregard chews gum. Mike Teevee watches too much television. Charlie, on the other hand, is forced by poverty to live a very humble life and never has the opportunity to develop such vices.
Anyway, in the latest movie, I think the novel's story is much more accurately presented than the 1971 version starring Gene Wilder. Personally, I don't think a 1970's audience would have accepted the book on the big screen as it was. The songs by the Oompa Loompa's alone would probably have sent most parents over the edge. Instead, they invented new songs, which had the same spirit, but which avoided saying things directly. (Such as calling Augustus Gloop "So greedy, foul, and infantile" or Violet Beauregard a "repulsive little bum/Who's always chewing chewing gum" or Varuca Salt's parents are called "sinners" or of Mike Teevee—who get's the longest song of all—who watches too much TV and "HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!") The new movie appears to use the original lyrics and the Oompa Loompa songs aren't quite so irritatingly catchy. (I.e., no "Oompa, Loompa, Doompity Doo...")
The one peace of liberty this movie takes with the original book is the motives and some of the actions of Willy Wonka. Wonka seems to have odd flashbacks of his childhood involving a rather imposing dentist for a father (played by Christopher Lee, a.k.a. Saruman, a.k.a. Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus). The ending also takes an odd twist before resolving to something similar to the real ending involving a side trip to dissolve Wonka's childhood angst. This tends to be a feature of modern films where we somehow have to explain a person's oddness as being a factor of childhood trauma. I find the overuse of this kind of drama a bit annoying, but I don't know that it would really violate the spirit of Dahl's vision (since his books seem to be twisted for just this sort of reason).
Anyway, the movie is pretty good and I think reading the book before or after would be a good idea too. I think most folks could probably read the novel in an afternoon as it's only a hundred pages long or so (written for elementary kids after all), but it's pretty fun (and fairly twisted). Cheers.
