Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Grade: A
I have to say I went to this movie with hesitation. I was willing to see it more out of curiosity rather than any desire to see it. After seeing the previews I basically figured this was going to be a horrible movie, how could it compare to the first. Well… it was quite amazing. I really enjoyed this movie. I laughed quite a bit and it was shot really well. They stuck to the book except for the whole back story of Willy Wonka (that was added). Johnny did a completely different version of Willy Wonka than Gene Wilder did and it worked.
My only complaint I guess, or my biggest complaint I should say was the Umpa Lumpa (sp?) songs. In the original the songs were lessons sung with just vocals. In here Danny Elfman’s music over powered the vocals in my opinion making it hard to hear what they were singing, though while the songs were going on it was entertaining to watch.
I’ll definitely watch this movie again, though most likely on video because I don’t like spending $10 on movies I get to see once.