Sunday, July 17, 2005

Tim Burton is a Sick, Sick Man...

...and I love him.

Took the kids to see Charlie & the Chocolate Factory today. Awesome. Burton is mad. Danny Elfman is mad. Production designer Alex McDowell (The Crow, Fight Club, Minority Report) is MAD with a capital "AAAAA!" The film is not a remake of the 1971 classic with Gene Wilder, although I'm sure comparisons are flying. It is a back-to-square-one new interpretation of the Roald Dahl novel. Sweet jeebus, it's a visual spectacle (but then, what Burton film isn't?), but more importantly, we really care for these poor, wacky, dysfunctional characters. Nicely done.

All the way through, I kept thinking of Samantha, and wishing she were here to see this - the book was one of her faves, and she loved the Gene Wilder movie. In fact, when she saw the teaser poster for the Burton version, she was skeptical - but soon imagined what Tim Burton and Johnny Depp could do with Dahl's characters. She was really looking forward to going to see it as a family. I think she really would have liked it.

We got home and Tyler immediately hauled out the lawnmower to work on the front lawn. I asked who he was and what he'd done with my son. I held the cord for him, and he did over half of the entire lawn before tiring and leaving the rest for me. What a kid!

I feel good. Had a nice coffee break with my neighbor. Got to see a good movie with my kids and got the lawn mowed. Life is good.

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