Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006
When the idea came to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, many wondered why would this need to be done? What in the world could be accomplished that Willy hadn’t previously done? Naturally that never stops Hollywood from making a film now does it? Thankfully, Warner Brothers decided to hire a feasible director in the visionary Tim Burton to helm this remake. Having made such previous visual masterpieces including The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences knew they were in for quite the ...reat when the film would come out. However, when the film came out, I kept on hearing that the film was very odd and almost too scary. Johnny Deep’s portrayal of Wonka was odd and confusing to audience. Still, this didn’t stop the film from making some extreme bank at the box office. Having never seen the film, I figured I’d give it a shot on the newly released HD-DVD version.
While the original Wonka focused on a more cheerful story, this version tells of a story 15 years before where Wonka, one day, simply closed his factory, laying off all of his employees in the process. One of the employees happened to be Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), grandpa to Charlie (Freddie Highmore). Grandpa revives old memories and let’s us know that Wonka was a delightful man who simply loved his business and all his workers provided everything he could for them. Charlie asks his grandpa how could chocolate still be being made if all the workers went home? That is one of the mysteries of the factory, a place Grandpa Joe wishes he could see one more time. Well, as many of you know, this is the part of the film where Wonka’s Oompa-Loompa’s go out into the night posting signs about a contest Wonka is holding. He has placed five golden tickets inside five of his chocolate bars. The five lucky souls he can obtain these tickets will win a tour of the factory lead by Wonka himself with one of the five winning a special prize. As we all know, Charlie does obtain the last ticket, but not without some suspense (particularly the candy bar sequence his parents get him for his birthday).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2006
When the idea came to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, many wondered why would this need to be done? What in the world could be accomplished that Willy hadn’t previously done? Naturally that never stops Hollywood from making a film now does it? Thankfully, Warner Brothers decided to hire a feasible director in the visionary Tim Burton to helm this remake. Having made such previous visual masterpieces including The Nightmare Before Christmas, audiences knew they were in for quite the ...reat when the film would come out. However, when the film came out, I kept on hearing that the film was very odd and almost too scary. Johnny Deep’s portrayal of Wonka was odd and confusing to audience. Still, this didn’t stop the film from making some extreme bank at the box office. Having never seen the film, I figured I’d give it a shot on the newly released HD-DVD version.
While the original Wonka focused on a more cheerful story, this version tells of a story 15 years before where Wonka, one day, simply closed his factory, laying off all of his employees in the process. One of the employees happened to be Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), grandpa to Charlie (Freddie Highmore). Grandpa revives old memories and let’s us know that Wonka was a delightful man who simply loved his business and all his workers provided everything he could for them. Charlie asks his grandpa how could chocolate still be being made if all the workers went home? That is one of the mysteries of the factory, a place Grandpa Joe wishes he could see one more time. Well, as many of you know, this is the part of the film where Wonka’s Oompa-Loompa’s go out into the night posting signs about a contest Wonka is holding. He has placed five golden tickets inside five of his chocolate bars. The five lucky souls he can obtain these tickets will win a tour of the factory lead by Wonka himself with one of the five winning a special prize. As we all know, Charlie does obtain the last ticket, but not without some suspense (particularly the candy bar sequence his parents get him for his birthday).