W = Willy Wonka, A to Z Blog Challenge
Willy Wonka was a delightful lunatic. He was a genius, a fat pusher, a sarcastic jerk, a terrorizer of children, a monument to creativity, and someone that every child wanted to meet.
We are here to discuss the GOOD movie, not the lamentable Johnny Depp vehicle that was foisted on the world in 2005. Johnny Depp is an actor unlike any we have at the moment — relentlessly quirky, undeniably talented, and dedicated to his art. Tim Burton, who directed this version, is a treasure and one of my favorite directors. This time, the collaboration didn’t work for me. At least, not in comparison to the 1971 version.
This terror, like the forceful mating of Satan and Caesar Flickerman, is probably why.
The version we all grew up with starred the incomparable Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, a man we all thought we could convince that we would be the best heirs to the chocolate empire he built. We all thought we were Charlie Bucket, and I’m sure nobody thought they were that nasty (but wildly entertaining) brat Veruca Salt, the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, the media zombie Mike Teevee, or the rude gum fanatic Violet Beauregard. We all know the story, but let’s skip down that lane, shall we?
Willy Wonka is the best chocolate and candy maker in the world, and he suddenly offers a lifetime supply of chocolate to the five finders of a golden ticket, which he has hidden in five of his chocolate bars throughout the world (yet strangely, only little white kids find them).
