November 2005

Retooling a much beloved (if flawed) film is touchy business in any regard, but there are not many films as sacred to a generation as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Having Tim Burton and Johnny Depps’ names attached may have lessened the worry factor, but Gene Wilder all but immortalized the role of Willy Wonka in the 1971 film version.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
N/A

Retooling a much beloved (if flawed) film is touchy business in any regard, but there are not many films as sacred to a generation as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Having Tim Burton and Johnny Depps’ names attached may have lessened the worry factor, but Gene Wilder all but immortalized the role of Willy Wonka in the 1971 film version.

So how does Burton’s version hold up? It’s both better and not as good, to tell the truth.

In this adaptation (which is admittedly more faithful to Roald Dahl’s classic novel) we’re given a more complete look at Charlie (Freddie Highmore from “Finding Neverland”;) and his down-on-their-luck family as they eek by a tenuous existence in a ramshackle and leaning home. Charlie’s parents (Noah Taylor & Helena Bonham Carter) have to support both Charlie and two sets of grandparents (David Kelly, Elieen Essell, David Morris, and Liz Smith. All of whom manage to steal every scene they’re in), while trying to maintain high spirits and encourage their young son.

When the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka (Depp) announces a contest wherein five lucky children will be allowed to tour his incredible factory, Charlie knows he has no chance of winning, as he’s only able to afford one chocolate bar a year. Any takers on whether Burton derails the universe by having Charlie lose out on a golden ticket? Yah, I didn’t think so.

Charlie and his Grandpa Joe (Kelly) get their chance to visit the Wonka Factory, alongside the gluttonous Gloops (Philip Wiegratz and Franziska Troegner), the overachieving Beauregardes (Annasophia Robba and the creepily great Missi Pyle), video-game fanatic Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry, who looks like a minature Barry Pepper) and his hapless dad, and of course Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) and her over-indulgent father (the great James Fox), each of whom is summarily dispatched by their own faults (with a little neglect and encouragement from Wonka) to the accompaniment of the song stylings of the Oompa Loompas (Deep Roy).

With the exception of a wonderfully morose back-story for Wonka, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory does do an admirable job of keeping faithful to the story’s origins, but strangely this film turns out much more light-hearted than the 1971 version. For all the technical achievements and storytelling improvements, this version also lacks a lot of the warmth and wonder of the original. We’re shown various wild contraptions, each making candy in a seemingly impossible way, but rather than focusing on the wonderment and awe they should inspire, each set piece feels more like background images which are given only cursory examination.

Charlie is much less an active protagonist once the factory doors are opened, pushed aside by the more colorful and obnoxious children on the screen. He’s there only to serve as a moral barometer and to reinforce the wonder of the Wonka experience. And of course there’s Wonka himself. Depp had some extremely large shoes to fill with this role, but rather than attempt to capture the benevolent lunacy of Wilder’s take, here Wonka is more an arrested man-child whose creepy mannerisms aren’t just some mischievous facade, but a reflection of a truly stunted being. With his CGI pasty face and flat out childlike manners, there’s no possible way his performance isn’t meant to conjure up a Jacko association.

The regular DVD edition ($28.98) contains only two short extras on the Oompa Loompas.  The two disc deluxe edition ($30.97) also contains a documentary on Roald Dahl, a short on the squirrel scene, five short featurettes, and a pack of limited edition playing cards.

Sadly, this time Wonka never really warms up to the world. True to Burton form, his weirdness is unchanged and uncompromised from our first encounter, much like the film itself. The real failing in this film is that it never finds a way to open up to the audience, as it’s too wrapped up in its own world to let us in for more than a peek. While many, many elements of this film easily surpass the original, the childlike wonder and sense of exploration are sorely lacking.

Still, even die-hard fans will find much to enjoy this time around, and only time will tell if this more modern adaptation will capture the imagination of this generation.

Gene Wilder has supplied many of film’s best comic performances, but who is he and how was his life and career shaped?  Wilder provides some answers as well as ask some questions of his own in his autobiography which examines his career, his friendships, his relationships, and the loves of his life.

Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search For Love and Art
4 Stars

Gene Wilder is a complex man who has battled unhappiness and uncertainty while giving pleasure to millions with his brilliant comic performances.  Kiss Me Like a Stranger is a narrative look at pivotal moments in Wilder’s life that through fate or coincidence made him who he is today.

The biography is broken up into different sections of Wilder’s life.  The first examines his childhood, the second his early career, the third his working with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor, and the last his life with Gilda Radner.

There is quite a bit of information I found fascinating.  Although I grew up with Wilder’s films, I didn’t know much about his private life which included two failed marriages, years of psychiatric help, and his private demon which haunted him for so long.  Wilder opens up his life and shares the good and the bad and gives the same generosity in telling his story as he so often showed on stage and screen.

There are frank and shocking moments in his early years and his experiences with women, but this is not a “tell all.”  Instead Wilder has focused on specific moments, choices, and relationships that have molded his life and shaped his career.

In terms of his career we get many nice tidbits such as the process of how Young Frankenstein came into existence, his friendship with Mel Brooks, and the wonderful, if sometimes strained, working relationship he had with Richard Pryor including their first meeting and the easy nature they fell into on screen from the very first shots on Silver Streak. 

Many stories stand out for me but I’ll share two.  The first anecdote is Wilder’s plane ride to New York with Stanley Doen as the watch the in flight movie and he gives Wilder some directing tips.  They watch the film without sound looking at how the film is lit, staged, etc.  The second involves a chance meeting with Cary Grant and a discussion about “normal men like the two of them.”

One thing Wilder himself finds fascinating is how much of his own career and life is do to chance meetings or a series of seemingly unrelated events.  He often muses on these topics at the end of a particular chapter showing how easily his life might have turned in a different direction.

In the earlier sections of the book he examines his relationships with his ex-wives and his adopted child.  In the last quarter of the book Wilder examines his life with, and after, Gilda Radner.  Very touching moments here as Wilder understands the good and the bad of each relationship and is willing to share it all.

What’s amazing about Gene Wilder is many of his best films were commercial failures (both The Producers and Willy Wonka were box office disappointments).  Yet Wilder continued to strive to make good movies and deal while dealing with personal problems which haunted him well into his adulthood.  This man gave me some of my favorite memories in cinema, whether telling Teri Garr to “put the candle back!”, singing about the world of imagination, or fighting killers on a moving train his performances have always shown the generous and tender human being beneath them.  The book does well in capturing snapshots of his life and letting us delve a little into his past and his hindsight.  An insightful, sometimes sad but often humorous tale that is a must read for fans of Gene Wilder’s career.