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miko2Last night Tom and I went to see the new Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I have to say that even though I very much liked the original film, I think Tim Burton's take on it is superior in almost every way -- not the least of which, it's much closer to the book as I remember it. Naturally it's probably been 35 years since I read the book, but I still have some very vivid memories of how it went, and it always bothered me a little that the movie version diverted from it in several signifigant ways. Tim Burton just naturally thinks a lot like Roahld Dahl, I suspect.
The biggest divergence in the original film was that Slugworth was not simply one of Wonka's competitors, but a Wonka spy who tries to get Charlie Bucket (and the other kids) to steal a secret candy for him (the everlasting gobstopper, I think it was). It's clear why the original movie did this -- to try to give the ending of the movie some suspense and excitement, and a satisfying resolution. Charlie and his grandpa violate the factory rules, are told at the end that they've failed, but when Charlie gives back the gobstopper he passes the test.
From what I can remember of the original book, Charlie wins simply by being the last kid standing -- all of the others eliminate themselves by being rotten and no-good. Then Willy Wonka flies Charlie and his grandpa to their house to collect the rest of the family and off they go happily ever after. Roahld Dahl was often more interested in wish-fulfillment fantasy and fun than he was in proper plotting. The new movie comes up with a more ingenious way to give the film a more satisfying ending -- I won't say what, but as far as I can remember all of the parts in the film relating to Wonka's own family are not in the book. But like I said, I probably haven't read it in 35 years. Maybe I should. ^_^
I also happened to like the new Oompa Loompa songs better -- and I always liked the old ones. I see several reviewers proclaiming that the new ones are different but just as annoying as the old -- but come on, the new ones are Danny Elfman. The man does no wrong.
Tom pointed out that the everlasting gobstopper was clearly meant to be the candy that tempted Charlie, given that it is a candy designed for poor people and can last a whole year. It's introduced, then forgotten. Within the film others point out that the Oompa Loompa songs seem to be awfully polished and coordinated for "improv" and practically accuse Wonka of having these songs created beforehand. This got me to thinking, is the gobstopper really there to tempt Charlie, and if so, did the Oompa Loompas have a song in the wings for him too? If so it would be the great lost Oompa Loompa song, never before heard by human ears! I wonder how it would go? ^_^
I bought some cds on Sunday -- "Gold - The Mamas & The Papas", "The Best Of Simon And Garfunkel" and "Negotiations and Love Songs - Paul Simon". The first two of these are remastered versions that sound infinitely better than what I had -- I had "Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits" which is a very old collection that really sounds old in this day and age, and I didn't even have a Mamas & Papas collection, just a "hits of the 60's" cd that had California Dreamin' on it -- and boy did that version sound bad sonically. There was another collection of theirs that I was looking for called "All The Leaves Are Brown" but apparently it's gone out of print and is hard to find, and the only real reason it's considered superior to "Gold" is that it contains a few more songs -- all of the songs from their first four cds, I believe, whereas Gold only contains most of those songs. Not a big enough difference for me to worry about, I was mostly interested in their biggest hits.
As for the Paul Simon cd -- I decided I needed that too, and I placed "Mother and Child Reunion" on my folk collection. I know there's a "remastered" version of this cd, but the one I bought at Silver Platters didn't say this anywhere, so I think I may have gotten an earlier mastered version. But it still sounds pretty good. Now my folk music cd is perfected, yes?
Well, maybe. When I played some of it for Tom he started trying to tell me what other songs/groups I should include. Some of his suggestions are wildly off the mark for what I wanted (folk-rock in the tradition of Simon & Garfunkel and Crosby Stills & Nash). Tom suggested things like Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Eagles, Kansas, even Boston. But he also helped me come up with some stuff that would probably fit -- Arlo Guthrie's song about New Orleans, Gordon Lightfoot ("Sundown" or "If You Could Read My Mind", and NOT "Edmond Fitzgerald", thank you very much), Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle" would be perfect... and certain John Denver songs. I may have to make a folk cd 2 in the future. ^_^
I don't own a Greatest Hits of John Denver or Jim Croce on cd (I do on record I'm sure). As for Gordon Lightfoot, I have one cd of his, but it's not a greatest hits cd. The only major hit of his on this cd is... ugh... The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
The biggest divergence in the original film was that Slugworth was not simply one of Wonka's competitors, but a Wonka spy who tries to get Charlie Bucket (and the other kids) to steal a secret candy for him (the everlasting gobstopper, I think it was). It's clear why the original movie did this -- to try to give the ending of the movie some suspense and excitement, and a satisfying resolution. Charlie and his grandpa violate the factory rules, are told at the end that they've failed, but when Charlie gives back the gobstopper he passes the test.
From what I can remember of the original book, Charlie wins simply by being the last kid standing -- all of the others eliminate themselves by being rotten and no-good. Then Willy Wonka flies Charlie and his grandpa to their house to collect the rest of the family and off they go happily ever after. Roahld Dahl was often more interested in wish-fulfillment fantasy and fun than he was in proper plotting. The new movie comes up with a more ingenious way to give the film a more satisfying ending -- I won't say what, but as far as I can remember all of the parts in the film relating to Wonka's own family are not in the book. But like I said, I probably haven't read it in 35 years. Maybe I should. ^_^
I also happened to like the new Oompa Loompa songs better -- and I always liked the old ones. I see several reviewers proclaiming that the new ones are different but just as annoying as the old -- but come on, the new ones are Danny Elfman. The man does no wrong.
Tom pointed out that the everlasting gobstopper was clearly meant to be the candy that tempted Charlie, given that it is a candy designed for poor people and can last a whole year. It's introduced, then forgotten. Within the film others point out that the Oompa Loompa songs seem to be awfully polished and coordinated for "improv" and practically accuse Wonka of having these songs created beforehand. This got me to thinking, is the gobstopper really there to tempt Charlie, and if so, did the Oompa Loompas have a song in the wings for him too? If so it would be the great lost Oompa Loompa song, never before heard by human ears! I wonder how it would go? ^_^
I bought some cds on Sunday -- "Gold - The Mamas & The Papas", "The Best Of Simon And Garfunkel" and "Negotiations and Love Songs - Paul Simon". The first two of these are remastered versions that sound infinitely better than what I had -- I had "Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits" which is a very old collection that really sounds old in this day and age, and I didn't even have a Mamas & Papas collection, just a "hits of the 60's" cd that had California Dreamin' on it -- and boy did that version sound bad sonically. There was another collection of theirs that I was looking for called "All The Leaves Are Brown" but apparently it's gone out of print and is hard to find, and the only real reason it's considered superior to "Gold" is that it contains a few more songs -- all of the songs from their first four cds, I believe, whereas Gold only contains most of those songs. Not a big enough difference for me to worry about, I was mostly interested in their biggest hits.
As for the Paul Simon cd -- I decided I needed that too, and I placed "Mother and Child Reunion" on my folk collection. I know there's a "remastered" version of this cd, but the one I bought at Silver Platters didn't say this anywhere, so I think I may have gotten an earlier mastered version. But it still sounds pretty good. Now my folk music cd is perfected, yes?
Well, maybe. When I played some of it for Tom he started trying to tell me what other songs/groups I should include. Some of his suggestions are wildly off the mark for what I wanted (folk-rock in the tradition of Simon & Garfunkel and Crosby Stills & Nash). Tom suggested things like Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Eagles, Kansas, even Boston. But he also helped me come up with some stuff that would probably fit -- Arlo Guthrie's song about New Orleans, Gordon Lightfoot ("Sundown" or "If You Could Read My Mind", and NOT "Edmond Fitzgerald", thank you very much), Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle" would be perfect... and certain John Denver songs. I may have to make a folk cd 2 in the future. ^_^
I don't own a Greatest Hits of John Denver or Jim Croce on cd (I do on record I'm sure). As for Gordon Lightfoot, I have one cd of his, but it's not a greatest hits cd. The only major hit of his on this cd is... ugh... The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
