Wonky Kubrick

Rating: Null/10 (21 July 2005)

Burton has a single note that he imposes. Fair enough. But its like Gilliam, he has to find a very rare story that has slots where has something to offer. For Gilliam, that was "Fear and Loathing." Burton last was in his element with the second Batman.
For my taste, this was all wrong for him. His talent is the ability to separate layers of reality cleanly and then playing with the dissonance between those layers, often humorously.
This story has only one layer. It is along the lines of a Suess, and may be the best Suess on film. As a Suess, it has some charm, but why settle for seconds? Bad script.
But this has one cool moment where Burton leaves his Burton-dom and enters the world of Rodriguez. Its a twist on the film within. Wonka transfers a chocolate bar through the TeeVee. It is a many layered reference to 2001, which itself is about conflicting generation of reality.
The scene features the white room, the eye, the music, the chair, the apes, and the chocolate bar as the monolith. What's on the TeeVee and movie screen are overlapped as our hero can reach in and grab the bar.
This segues into a sequence populated by rock band parodies, including The Beatles. All these are peopled by the Oompah guy and voiced by the Oingo Boingo guy. Its an island of depth in the midst of a sea of stupid syrup.
Otherwise, the project is a misfit.
Oh and Helena's bearing is majestic. Great to have her there.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.