Willy Wonka

[mommax3]

We took the kids to this last night. It was enjoyable, but weird, like you might expect from Tim Burton. I wouldn't take kids three and under, though. There was a scene I didn't quite "get".......if anybody has seen it, is there some kind of inside joke about the sheep shearing scene?

The best part of the movie are the sets and the Oompa Loompas, all played by one guy.

Sally

Sally,

Hmmn...my take on the sheep joke is that their pink wool is really the secret source of cotton candy. We saw it on IMAX and it was pretty good. I think I want to see the original again for comparison. Haven't read the Dahl book but have read that supposedly Burton's version is a more faithful depiction of the book. Not unlike a few reviews have suggested, I saw Depp's character as a little "Michael Jacksonesque" at times.

[Rapunzel]

I saw Depp's character as a little "Michael Jacksonesque" at times.

OK, to be honest that is why I have not seen this movie yet - the commercials made me think of Johnny Depp's character as Michael Jackson for some reason. And that just made me feel, well, icky. I'd rather have Depp in my head as Jack Sparrow rather than an MJ-type person. Saavy?

Jennifer

[Sheherezade]

I'm not seeing anything that ruins the image of Johnny Depp in my head!!

[SueC]

I heard that in an interview, Depp said he modeled his character after Jackson as well as Catherine Zeta.

[Sheherezade]

I read an interview that he didn't see the Jackson element in the character. He was "surprised" that people saw that. Maybe he's backpedaling?

I saw him on Oprah (yummy) where he said that he saw Willy as a saddish, reclusive man with a really messed up childhood. Maybe that's why people are saying it's like Michael Jackson!

[migirl]

I saw Depp's character as a little "Michael Jacksonesque" at times.

Ok, we saw the movie this weekend and didn't see this at all. I mean, yeah, Depp's Willy Wonka was a reclusive, eccentric, childish sort of man-boy, but his character doesn't even really like children. I don't know...I didn't see/feel the comparison and it didn't ruin my enjoyment of Depp's performance or the movie. We both thought it was great, definitely weird in some parts, but overall pretty good.

My favorite, favorite, favorite line was when he's welcoming the children and their parents to the factory and he says, "Welcome star shine, the earth says hello!" It's just such a weird, random thing to say (what the hell does that mean??!), we've been quoting it all weekend.

The "Jacksonesque" vibe, for me, was due to sartorial similarities -- I could see the character and Jackson sharing the same wardrobe. That, and an occasional spaced out facial expression seemed like Jackson to me. I didn't mean to suggest the character "liked" children in a prurient way.

[Auspicious]

We saw it this weekend. We had low expectations, but we liked it.

I agree that the look of the Willy Wonka character and the way he's presented on the movie posters and the trailer give off a Michael Jackson vibe, but Depp doesn't talk like Jackson at all in the movie, so I forgot all about it as the movie got going.

I agree there was some kind of "nudge nudge wink wink" type thing going on with the cotton-candy sheep, but I didn't get it, either.

I thought the kid actors were really good, and the kid who played Charlie Bucket was really, really good. Each of the bad ones was bad in a different wicked way, and Charlie seemed really golden-hearted without being sappy.