p e n g u i n d e v i l

Yes, it’s been some of each these days. The insipid heat that just won’t go away, a week into what was what was originally a 1-2 day heat wave is very disappointing. But on a high note, we had our pre-wedding party on Saturday and, I do think, it went quite well and was goodly fun. My bride to be was looking quite the beauty and the yard was all homies, what with real burning flames and everything. A bit too much time with the kiddies, I did spend, but a good deal altogether. A bit odd for me to have soo many unrelated folks o’ mine all about the same place but quite apropos, for a number of reasons. Luckily I only had to hear about family misbehavings second-hand…

Anyway, so about other things. I opted out of work the next day and we watched The Secret Garden which I thought was quite good and endearing side for me, well, that’s life, I suppose. Also that day we made it out to see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Well, Johnny Depp was good. I guess it was more about him than Willy Wonka was, but I found the children in this new version to be much harder to even notice. Once they were in the factory, even Charlie and Joe seemed like background characters. Anyway. It looked good it just didn’t seem to have the heart or much depth to any character except for Willy.
Oh and did I mention the insipid music? Yes, I realize that the songs had the actual Roald Dahl lyrics, but the music (and the scenes with it) were horridly dumb. Who is supposed to appreciate scenes like that? The American Idol/America’s Funniest Home Videos crowd?

So yes, the movie is fine and has a lot of good to it but, regardless of Dahl’s thouhts about the original movie, this movie has not earned its place in the canon of the timeless classic American “children’s” movies where films of the caliber of its predecessor (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), The Wizard of Oz & The Neverending Story will continue to dwell.