I'm like a chocaholic but with booze

Speaking of remakes I finally got round to watching the Tim Burton Charlie and the Chocoalte Factory last night. Now I haven't seen the, apparently terrifying, 1971 Gene Wilder version but I have a self-awarded diploma in Roald Dahl studies and so feel fully qualified to declare this movie somewhat of a mixed bag.

On the one hand it rips a lot of the dialogue and set-pieces straight from the book, especially with regard to Charlie's family and - joy of joys - the brilliant squirrel nut-sorting scene. It even makes improvements. For instance Charlie's father is fired from the toothpaste factory because the hunt for the golden tickets has caused an upsurge in cavities leading to increased sales of toothpaste and therefore providing the company with enough funds to mechanise thus leaving Charlie's dad obselete - an important lesson in capitalism for you there, and something I'm pretty sure isn't in the book.

However, the film also bears the stamp of Hollywood, and despite all the weird grotesqueries of the factory and of Wonka himself, the makers couldn't help but tag on a retch-inducing message about 'family', including a whole new, and utterly superfluous, backstory for Willie Wonka. A lot of the film is good, but as with so many of the recent American mainstream (for instance every Spielberg film since A.I.) it totally fluffs the ending.

Oh, and re John Carpenter and rermakes, I should have pointed out that the original Assault on Precinct 13 is also a re-make - of a sort. Carpenter idolised Howard Hawks, and took Rio Bravo as inspiration for his cops and gangsters siege-fest. However, as anyone who has sat through Rio Bravo will know, it'sstodgy and overlong with only Dean Martin to recommend it. Carpenter took the idea and realised its full potential - as he did with The Thing.