Charlie and the chocolate factory! (2 Viewers)

[snakybus]

I thought it was great, the Oompah Loompah songs were the original Roald Dahl songs. Sentimental ending was shite. Depp was pretty good though.

 

[Latex lizzie]

I went to the cinbelah and bought the book instead. Saw a different filum.Gene wilder could never be topped IMHO.

 

[MDR]

Go see the film lizzie. You're living in the past.

 

[Latex lizzie]

I like it in the past. Gene wilder is there with napoleon and we are sipping brandies.

 

[Bob]

So which Charlie and The Chocolate Factory movie are they going to be showing every Christmas from now on?? Even though TG4 were the only ones to show it last year, at around 9am!

 

[ernesto]

they refer to chocolate throughout the movie as "candy". totally ruined it for me. depp's willy wonka character is heavily based on michael jackson i think aswell with a bit of kubrick's clockwork orange alex thrown in. depp is great. everything else is very average. mleh. very disappointing. couldn't even be classed as a good tim burton movie. even the big screen couldnt save it. i'll proly still dream of golden thickets tho

edit : oh and bizzarrely they've only 1 oompa loompa and they digitally photocopy him to make him several oompa loompas and he's crap in the first place. like a really camp asian dwarf who indulges in the most contrived and tasteless choreography you've ever seen an asian dwarf indulge in ever! harrrrumph.

i concur whole-heartedly.

if i had never seen the original (& loved it and fallen in love for gene wilders genius) and not liked the book so much, i'd have enjoyed the new one more. it is goodish but nothing on the original, for me.

 

[Unicron]

I'm with Donkey on the candy thing, also the fact that the unit of currency in what was supposed to be England was the Dollar annoyed the shit out of me.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

we saw a wee dude when we were walking back up form the cinema and i had the biggest urge to run up to him and get him to sing the oompa loompa song..

you should have

anyone reckon they'll do Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator?

 

[jane]

I'm with Donkey on the candy thing, also the fact that the unit of currency in what was supposed to be England was the Dollar annoyed the shit out of me.

Is it not okay for an American making a movie largely for an American audience, and starring mostly American actors, to use a word recognisable to American viewers? It's likely that the currency thing was something to do with the financial backers getting a word in, but if they'd used the pound or the euro, you'd complain that Americans were trying to be European. Or, at least, some people would.

I apologise in advance if you'd rather grumble about it, but 'sweets' in the States is a broader category than 'candy'. Sweets includes all desserts, not just 'candy'. This might have been clearer if always spoken by English actors, but when someone says 'sweets' in an American accent, it would suggest something different.

And it's not like Dahl was uncomfortable using American words. He didn't call the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Lift, did he? 'Candy' also has a more playful ring to it as a word than 'sweets'.

It would be confusing for approximately 300,000,000 potential viewers, but if you would rather complain, that's fine.

Sorry, this 'they used an American word, and it ruined my life' bullshit really pisses me off.

The notion that the different words Americans use are automatically dumber than the ones used on this side of the Atlantic is actually pretty fucking offensive.

 

[Latex lizzie]

Darn tootin! (see what I did here?)

I love me.

 

[snakybus]

mad yank rant

ah Jane, I love it when you get all patriotic. America, America!

In fairness, elevator is fairly commonly-used "over here", whereas candy is just one of those words that's very American.

The reason people get annoyed about it is because it kind of says that Americans shouldn't learn "our" words (actually they're the Brits' so really this imperialistic argument coming from an Irish person is kind of ironic, but anyway), even though we have to learn theirs. Confuse 300,000,000 Americans? Why not, sure. It'd be fun. Or open their minds, maybe. Thing is, he actors all had English accents, bar Willy Wonka (which I found odd, since Johnny Depp is well capable of it) and Grandpa Joe, who had a Dublin accent. And the actual American kid characters - Mike TV etc.

Incidentally, I didn't see any dollars - I saw a non-desctript note with what looked like Arabic written on it and a big "10". No infidel currency.

 

[kevin gallen]

could not help thinking of michael jackson when depp was on screen. ooompa loompa looked kinda creepy

 

[carcass]

Incidentally, I didn't see any dollars - I saw a non-desctript note with what looked like Arabic written on it and a big "10". No infidel currency.

When Charlie found the golden ticket and the people in the shop were trying to buy it off him they were saying dollars. Think thats what people were refering to.

Personally I think if its set in England they should use English terms, America American terms. Simple. When I moved here from the states there was a lot of terminology that I didnt understand and had to figure out. It was fun and I learned shit.

 

[Donkey OJ]

Is it not okay for an American making a movie largely for an American audience, and starring mostly American actors, to use a word recognisable to American viewers?...
.... 'sweets' in the States is a broader category than 'candy'. Sweets includes all desserts, not just 'candy'. This might have been clearer if always spoken by English actors, but when someone says 'sweets' in an American accent, it would suggest something different.

And it's not like Dahl was uncomfortable using American words. He didn't call the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Lift, did he? 'Candy' also has a more playful ring to it as a word than 'sweets'.

It would be confusing for approximately 300,000,000 potential viewers, but if you would rather complain, that's fine.

Sorry, this 'they used an American word, and it ruined my life' bullshit really pisses me off.

The notion that the different words Americans use are automatically dumber than the ones used on this side of the Atlantic is actually pretty fucking offensive.

the buke was called charlie and the "chocolate" factory. mmmkay? i'm not looking for a generic catch all term like sweets or whatever. the use of "candy" for what is so obviously to me "chocolate" just jarred a little and i think it was an uneccessary concession to americana. over here caffrey's make chocolate flavoured candy. cadburys make chocolate. its not like it was just a minor detail. it'd be like das boot being released in the states as das trunk or something. call all the other sweets, candy, confectionary whatever you want. but chocolate is chocolate. and its the chocolate factory. NOT the candy factory.

 

[MDR]

Hold on a minute. You can suspend reality for oompah loompahs and a girl that inflates in to a giant blueberry, but not for the use of words like 'dollar' and 'candy'. Let go people. Let go.

 

[MDR]

the buke was called charlie and the "chocolate" factory. mmmkay? i'm not looking for a generic catch all term like sweets or whatever. the use of "candy" for what is so obviously to me "chocolate" just jarred a little and i think it was an uneccessary concession to americana. over here caffrey's make chocolate flavoured candy. cadburys make chocolate. its not like it was just a minor detail. it'd be like das boot being released in the states as das trunk or something. call all the other sweets, candy, confectionary whatever you want. but chocolate is chocolate. and its the chocolate factory. NOT the candy factory.

Yeah, but the Europeans would say what we eat isn't chocolate anyway. It should be called 'charlie and cocoa derived sweet bar factory'.

 

[jane]

ah Jane, I love it when you get all patriotic. America, America!

In fairness, elevator is fairly commonly-used "over here", whereas candy is just one of those words that's very American.

The reason people get annoyed about it is because it kind of says that Americans shouldn't learn "our" words (actually they're the Brits' so really this imperialistic argument coming from an Irish person is kind of ironic, but anyway), even though we have to learn theirs. Confuse 300,000,000 Americans? Why not, sure. It'd be fun. Or open their minds, maybe. Thing is, he actors all had English accents, bar Willy Wonka (which I found odd, since Johnny Depp is well capable of it) and Grandpa Joe, who had a Dublin accent. And the actual American kid characters - Mike TV etc.

Incidentally, I didn't see any dollars - I saw a non-desctript note with what looked like Arabic written on it and a big "10". No infidel currency.

The thing about the currency was that it was deliberately ambiguous. In fact, the whole geography of the movie was pretty fractured, in order that it not look set in any particular place; it even mixes up time periods (like Charlie's Dickensian poverty, and Violet's totally 2005 soccer mom bore). I liked that the actors kept their accents because it added to the tone that the story has meaning for people beyond those who share the writer's nationality.

But the film was made so that young children could understand it, not as a cultural statement about who should use which words. Because most English-speaking kids would be exposed to American TV, they'd understand the word 'candy', whereas, an American five-year old would understand 'sweets' to be desserts. Candy would be more widely understood, while 'sweets' would cause confusion for the majority of their audience (in terms of numbers).

And they DID call it a chocolate factory.

My next point, snaky, was about the fact that Irish people can be very protective over words that come from British English.

Here:

 

[Donkey OJ]

Yeah, but the Europeans would say what we eat isn't chocolate anyway. It should be called 'charlie and cocoa derived sweet bar factory'.

i knew that was coming... but for anyone who has ever licked the chocolate off a time bar or those shitty soft mallow "easter eggs" - the difference between that chocolate "flavoured" candy shit and our version of chocolate - cadburys - is huge. far huger than the difference between cadburys and "real" european chocolate.

yeah it's pedantic as fuck but people feel strongly over substances than can simulate the feeling of being in love or initiate brain orgasms in the tatse buds.

 

[Donkey OJ]

in order that it not look set in any particular place

it looks hella like philadelphia to me,

But the film was made so that young children could understand it, not as a cultural statement about who should use which words. Because most English-speaking kids would be exposed to American TV, they'd understand the word 'candy', whereas, an American five-year old would understand 'sweets' to be desserts. Candy would be more widely understood, while 'sweets' would cause confusion for the majority of their audience (in terms of numbers)

what does the term chocolate mean to your average american adult/child?

And they DID call it a chocolate factory.

see, thats not worth a fuck to me if they're calling the produce of said factory "candy"!

 

[jane]

it looks hella like philadelphia to me,

what does the term chocolate mean to your average american adult/child?


see, thats not worth a fuck to me if they're calling the produce of said factory "candy"!

'Chocolate' does not mean gobstoppers or gum, that's for sure.