Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
In this “reimagination” of 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie (Freddie Highmore) is again one of five lucky children to find a golden ticket inside a Wonka candy bar, and it leads to a coveted tour of the Willy Wonka chocolate factory. But when he meets Wonka (Johnny Depp) himself, things take a turn for the cookie, er, kooky.
Total box office: $205.9 million
Extras! Much like the film itself, there’s more than enough candy here to go ‘round. For the youngsters, there are “challenges,” to include “Oompa-Loompa Dance Machine,” and a special about the difficulties of training live squirrels to appear in the film. For the adults, there is an interesting featurette on the life and works of the often-misunderstood author of Charlie and many other children’s books, Roald Dahl–whose The Fantastic Mr. Fox is currently being adapted by The Royal Tenenbaums’ writer/director Wes Anderson.
When it was relevant: Everyone was excited for Charlie’s summer release, from both Warner Bros. and anxious fans–and, obviously, for different reasons–the film delivered. For Depp, whose Wonka was both Depp-affirming and obscure, it was yet another notch on his belt. For director Tim Burton, well, he again proved himself worthy of big budgets. Of course, the two re-teamed later in the summer for the pleasing and successful stop-motion animated Corpse Bride.
Worthy DVD purchase? Yes. Embrace your (inner) children with confectionery delight. Marvel at the eye candy, Depp’s acting abilities (and makeup team) and Burton’s vision. Last but certainly not least, soak up every final second of the most complementary actor-director duo to come around in a long time, because there’s no telling what their next collaboration will be.
All things considered: B+
Christmas with the Kranks
With their daughter away, Nora and Luther Krank (Jamie Lee Curtisand Tim Allen) forgo their annual Christmas festivities, opting instead to go away on a vacation–much to the dismay of the decoration-happy neighborhood. But when their daughter announces at the last second that she’ll be home for the holidays, there’s a mad dash to revert back to full-on Christmas mode. This is based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham, a departure for the lawyer-turned-novelist, who was probably just as shocked as you were to learn that they made it into a movie.
Total box office: $73.7 million
Extras! None–if only they’d exercised this kind of restraint in releasing the film in the first place.
When it was relevant: Audiences inexplicably ate it up, which is surprising only because weeks prior to Kranks’ release, Ben Affleck starred in an Xmas-themed bomb of his own, Surviving Christmas, which was only marginally worse yet hardly made a dime. The only explanation must be Allen’s baffling domination of holiday movies, ever since he donned the fat suit in 1994’s The Santa Clause.
Worthy DVD purchase? Just say no to Kranks! True, the holiday season is upon us, and you could well kick it off early with this purchase–which is obviously the studio’s hope. But wouldn’t you rather have a good holiday flick to help commence the season instead? If desperate, this week’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will pass for the time being. It, too, will elicit the warm-and-fuzzies without exploiting Christmastime junk like this does.
All things considered: D+
The Devils Rejects
This sequel to writer/director Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses is set some months later when Texas police launch a full-scale search for the Firefly family in connection with the 1,000-plus murders over the past several years. All this means to the Firefly clan is–homicidal road trip!
Total box office: $16.9 million
Extras! There are a handful of Rejects-specific extras that fans of the film will enjoy, but there are two features that we found most eye-catching. First is the obligatory makeup featurette, which, yes, is standard issue, but in a gory slash-‘em-up like this one, it’s always interesting. The second, more curious extra is the blooper reel. Never mind that it’s difficult to imagine Zombie ever cracking a smile, but bloopers don’t exactly play to his audience. Nobody who watches this movie in earnest wants to see blood-spattered maniacs erupt in laughter when they forget their lines. Then again, that might be something to see.
When it was relevant: Rejects was not unlike a two-hour music video for one of Zombie’s songs. Thus, as expected, fans of his music flocked–but there are only so many. It’s a cushy situation for Monsieur Zombie, however, because his movies are generally shot on an extremely low budget and are almost guaranteed to at least earn back most of their money. So, in an odd way, Zombie has more creative control than many of his contemporaries, so long as he continues this trend.
Worthy DVD purchase? No, which may seem heretic to Zombie followers. The film did have its gruesome moments, but all in all, it’s not for most, and money might be better spent on the cult classics from which Rejects is culled.
All things considered: C+
