Wonka a triumph... excluding the songs.

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2005)

Johnny Deep does a wonderful job, and continues to impress his versatility on moviegoers in "Willy Wonka and the Chocalate Factory". Similarly, Tim Burton gives us all we would expect along the lines of creativity. The children in the move were especially impressive in the individual styles they portrayed. I probably could have watched a whole movie about the fat German kid. Anyway, the film is much truer to the book than the 1971 version, so you can take that for what its worth. The MAJOR detraction from my viewing experience was the umpa-lumpas or, rather, the terrible songs they sang. Danny Elfman (music) is usually a tremendous addition to the movies and series he is involved with, but I would say that his work with these songs downgraded the entire film. They were mesmerizingly corny, each trying to touch upon different genres of popular music. They were long and overemphasized as well. Elfman is a very talented composer, but he leaves much to be desired in his lyrics. I might be alone in this, but I don't much care for watching and listening to hundreds of little umpa-lumpas in tight latex choreographed like a highschool musical and dancing to crappy songs. I am going on about this because I think the songs shrink the potentially broad age-range that would enjoy the film. Otherwise, it's a great movie. I could go into all the things I liked about the movie, but I'm sure they are all covered in other reviews. Rock an roll.