Hey Peter,

You do know that a remake of Willie Wonka is in the works with Tim Burton directing, right? Johnny Depp has recently signed to play Willie. He beat out Jim Carrey for the part, if you can believe it.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with the first one. Gene Wilder's performance was truely magical.

Interesting that part of Tim Burton's motivation was his HATRED of the original. He wants to do something completely different. Apparently Roald Dahl hated it to, and his estate only agreed to the remake because they liked what Burton did on "James and the Giant Peach." Read that someplace. I kind of like the orginal. The boat scene scared the pants off me when I was little kid. I'm real glad that the rumors about Marilyn Manson playing Willy Wonka turned out not to be true.

Geez, the remake is such a classic. I love that film. But there is no doubt that Burton will make a great remake of it. Most remakes suck (IMHO), but I think he'll do a good job. He has to since the original is so wonderful. I think Depp will do a great job, too, though Manson coud have provided a wonderful sinister-like Wonka. The beginning of "Portrait..." is just too cool. If this remakes stinks, I'll be truly disappointed.

Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes was arguably one of the worst, most destructive remakes in the history of remakes. I'm sure fans of the original Planet of the Apes noticed the remarkable depth of social, religious and political coverage in the original that was totally vacant from the remake.

However, I just went and saw Burton's latest film, Big Fish, and as it is basically a 'fable' sort of tale, I could see him doing something good with the Chocolate Factory. I also like the fact that he's calling it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, not Willy Wonka. It's as Roald Dahl wanted it.

And Johnny Depp has never been bad in anything he's done. Even in the dorky 21 Jump Street, he was a beacon of promising talent.

Yeah, what was with that boat scene? Was the editor high? Who thought put a an image of a CHICKEN GETTTING DECAPITATED was somehow a good idea for a children's/family movie?

<<<-- Originally posted by Imran Zaidi : Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes was arguably one of the worst, most destructive remakes in the history of remakes. I'm sure fans of the original Planet of the Apes noticed the remarkable depth of social, religious and political coverage in the original that was totally vacant from the remake.

However, I just went and saw Burton's latest film, Big Fish, and as it is basically a 'fable' sort of tale, I could see him doing something good with the Chocolate Factory. I also like the fact that he's calling it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, not Willy Wonka. It's as Roald Dahl wanted it.

And Johnny Depp has never been bad in anything he's done. Even in the dorky 21 Jump Street, he was a beacon of promising talent. -->>>

I must be a complete freak.. but I really liked what Tim Burton did with the Planet of the Apes, not a remake... is more like a new movie inspired in an old movie... It´s not his best movie though.

So maybe we should expect not a Willy Wonkas remake.. but a different movie inspired in an old one? THe name is allready different... Anyway I think this story is more in his kind of league...
And I just want to see what he´ll do to the factory. I guess the Art Director and the Production Designer are going to have a lot of work.

But mmmm.. well... I liked Water World... so don´t listen to me.

Although I am not the hugest fan of Tim Burton I respect his work greatly. He is a talent to be reckoned with and his unique vision he brings to the screen is in a different league than other filmakers.

I have never been more bummed than after I saw the remake to Planet of the Apes. Truly a let down. I am a huge fan of the original and was looking very forward to the remake. And it just sucked.

The problem I have with WONKA is that NO ONE can replace Gene Wilder. He was perfect.


Wonka - See above comments.
Big Fish - I have not seen yet.
Planet of the Apes - Unbeliavable CRAP. MAJOR DISAPOINTMENT.
Sleepy Hollow - LOVED IT
Mars Attacks! - HATED IT
Ed Wood - LOVED IT
Batman Returns - HATED IT
Edward Scissorhands - GOOD
Batman - RUNIED MY VSION OF BATMAN. HATED IT.
Beetlejuice - LOVED IT
Pee-wee's Big Adventure - GOOD

Yeah, I'd say his career has been pretty erratic. I think "Ed Wood" is his best. One of my favorite movies.

John, I agree with almost all of your LOVE/HATEs, except for the Batman films. Maybe I'm from a different Batman generation, but they are exactly what I saw in the comic books when I was a kid. Loved them both.

I'm iffy on BUrton myself. I love the look of his films, but the storylines sometimes fall short of his beat work.

As for POTA, I don't like to throw the word "sin" around lightly but...OK, that's too far. But I was disappointed. I think your take on the film might have something to do with your age. I cut my teeth on Rod Serling and the Orig. POTA. IThere was no way the remake could live up to that. I wouldn't have done it.

Oddly, the REAL original story from the book is servicable and would make a great film. Guess that will never happen.


I have concernes regarding "Charlie." The first film has a very nice creepy subtext. But if pushed too far, it would become a cheap cheesy horryflick. Thank goodness Manson ain't gonna star. I'm looking foward to see what we get.

Has anyone else ever noticed a spiritual element to WWCF?

"Where did she go, where all the bad eggs go, the furnace."

Joe

I read an interview with him somewhere in which he commented that he was unable to recognize a good or bad script. This was just after "Mars Attacks." I agree that his films all look fantastic, but if there are structural problems, he doesn't seem to be able to fix them. I don't know how they can hand him a sub-par script at that level to begin with, but I guess it happens.

He did Nightmare Before Christmas too, didn't he? That fits into the above criteria as well.

<<<-- Originally posted by Federico Dib : I must be a complete freak.. but I really liked what Tim Burton did with the Planet of the Apes -->>>

Sorry, I'm going to have to side with Imran on this one. Not long ago I watched the original Planet of the Apes, and while it is certainly dated I feel it's held up remarkably well and it has a nice sense of artistry to it. The remake just seemed like the typical crap that Hollywood churns out these days; the ape village looked like something right out of a theme park. In the original I got the sense that they worked very hard to get the most from what was probably a rather modest budget.

But I'll certainly be interested to see Burton's Willy Wonka.

Yeah.. confirmed.. I´m a freak, but hey... I didn´t have high expectations when I rented the movie...
I didn´t thought much about the first ones either (maybe I was too young), and I´ve never thought of Burton as a genius or a great director... but one that´s a little different...
So after all the bashing that movie got... when I saw it... I started to believe I´m a weird guy, since I enjoyed it.

Anyway I also liked "The Postman" and "Frighteners" (the list goes on).. so you are probably right.

P.S.: I think Marilyn Manson would have been great as Willy, and Rodney Dangerfield should play Charlie´s Grandfather, as a drunken man, and the Humpa´s should definetly be 3D CG.
(ok... just kidding).

Wow this is news to me.. do you have a direct link to the source?

I saw a documentary on ITV about the 5 children after they were famous. Would you believe it that the guy who played Charlie is now a vet!!! I had no idea that the orginial was filmed in Germany on a budget of £2million. And the children only made £600 each!!!

I love that film, I hope the new one does it proud.

Cheers,

Ed

Ok Ed, if you check this link you'll have all the info you could reasonably expect at this time on this remake...

http://www.countingdown.com/movies/1415