Gene Wilder’s Wonka, though differing to some degree from Dahl’s character, is thoroughly wonderful: sardonic, odd, and vaguely menacing. “Stop. Don’t. Come back” His bemused reactions to the awful behaviour of the children visiting his factory is a highlight. The script is clever and most of the songs quite good. I enjoy a lot of the early 70s vibe of the early parts of the film.
Sadly, the films special effects and production design don’t live up to the wonders…
You don’t have to like Christopher Nolan the way I do, but let’s just get something out of the way as people call each other “dumb” for not getting it or this movie “dumb” in its grand ambition: its not a matter of anyone or anything being dumb. Either you’re interested in the same ideas Nolan is (I.e. the varied impacts and aspects of living in time, and how cinema lets us play with it) or you’re not. Either is fine, but you’re not dumb for not liking it and the movie is not dumb because you’re uninterested. I for one am very interested.
I guess I watched a totally different film than everyone else. Sloppy, with a script so slap-dash I can’t call it overstuffed, made semi-watchable with a talented cast. Riley’s direction lacks the vision and clarity that makes promising but ambitious debuts so exciting even when they don’t entirely work. The intriguing ideas and satire of the first half (even if the whole “white voice” thing never has the allegorical force you think it does, when you really consider it) is…
