Upon second watching( from unspeakable sources), I have decided that the familifying of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory wasn't as sacrilegious as I had previously thought, and I enjoyed it immensely after that. (ok..so wat am i doing admist the preparations for exam? oh the pt is, did i ever embark on that sacred mission anyway?)

watched it with my little bro. seeing it with him, as nice as it was to see him [note my use of a quantifier!], diminished the johnny depp gawking experience. i heart johnny. though, i do believe i prefered him more in pirates simply because he looked less like michael jackson and well, more like a man. i mean, i like androgeny, i just wouldn't like to fuck it. it's like how some articles of clothing are just meant to be appreciated and not worn. it was totally unlike how i imagined the book to be [except for the edible grass bit, which was scarily spot on] but i loved it! first time that happened too, i mean usually if you really like a book, when a movie doesn't conform to your point of view you end up hating it, but this one was cool. complete acid trip. which is why i heart tim burton as well. it had his stamp all over it, all the houses/buildings were like transplanted from the nightmare before christmas set. the best bits were the really trippy ones, with all the references to 5th Dimension (Good Morning Starshine), The Beatles and St.Pepper...Didn't particularly like the back story, or the hallmark approved ending. Dahl was never big on that type of gig anyway. And was it just me? but did charlie merely win because everyone was an utter arse? And [this is an afterthought] i didn't quite like Johnny as Willy Wonka [*gasp* blasphemy!]..yeah he made the character his own but that's precisely what was so wrong (?) with it. then again, i've got my own preconcieved notions of how the book should be interpreted and johnny's portrayal just doesn't fit in with my worldview.


BUT, it occured to me that despite the trippy quality of the film, it was, at its basis, a children's film. I asked the my kid brother what he thought of it and he said he enjoyed it, and when it comes down to it, that's all that matters - that kids enjoy it. That's always been what Charlie's about, making children happy. So as much as purists and almost adults who grew up reading and loving Charlie go "WTF WONKA HELLO?", the most important people are the children watching it now. While being admittedly kind of trippy, it achieved that, so it fulfilled it cause.