CATCF Discussion Question #4, 4 down......1 remains

[captainjacksparrow]

Originally Posted by Karen
on 7/28/05 at 05:46 AM

Well, how do you think the 4 nastiest kids on the Wonka Factory Tour were portrayed compared to how Dahl wrote them? Do you think August captured the nature of the beasties? Were they overdone? Not enough? Were you happy to see them "get their just rewards"? Did Mike Teavee update well?
Did you like the way Burton had Wonka and the brats interact in the film? Too creepy? Not sinister enough?

[captainjacksparrow]

ForeverinmyheartJD

I haven't seen the original movie in quite some time and I think I did that on purpose. I'll have to watch it again now to see how the kids compare, although I know I won't enjoy it as much as Johnny's
I found Veruca to be bratty but almost in a sort of polite way. I think she maybe needed to be a little more mischievious. As much as I enjoyed the squirrel scene, I did find that when she went to get the squirrel, for example, the book plays it out alot quicker - that she throws open the door and rushes in. Then almost immediately the squirrels are on her. The book makes her out to be more bratty I think.
Loved Augustus and Violet - Mike gets a so-so from me. He was ok.

[captainjacksparrow]

Karen

Not to worry, we are steering clear of the WW&TCF movie...LOL Let's just compare the book and CATCF. So don't worry about watching the old movie for comparisons here. LOL

[captainjacksparrow]

captainjacksparrow

Augustus is describe as a boy so enormously fat he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful blimp, and that his face was like a monstrous ball of dough with two small greedy curranty eyes peering out upon the world....I think that augustus was true to the intent of the book.
Veruca is describe as a small girl and spoiled....I think that she could have been more bratty in the movie...she did come across as polite
Violet is describe as a gum chewier and rude....I think that she could have been a little meaner..she listened to her mother in the movie..but in the book she was very disrespectful of her mother
Mike is describe as a boy with his eyes glued to the tv watching a ganster movie.....I liked the moderization of him playing video games. Though I was hoping that he would be playing a popular game like Halo or somthing along those lines..
all in all they did a great job. The book has it's dark moments and I know they did not want to get so dark that it was a bad movie.

[captainjacksparrow]

MerryK

Willy/Johnny almost gave this non-chalant feeling as to what his actual feelings were to the kids.. very noticeable from the very beginning. I think they did a good job in transferring the descriptions from the book to the movie. I definitely liked how Johnny & Tim had them all interact.
Now.. what I noticed more.. and I'm jumping to the end with their descriptions.. Was when the 4 kids were walking out of the factory.. a slight difference there. Augustus Gloop had thinned out cause of getting stuck in the pipe in the book.. where as in the movie he was still heavy and eating his fingers. I also got the impression that in the book.. Willy was more.... that everything that happened to the kids was good for them.. and I dont recall that so much in the movie.. at least at that part.. Augustus will be healthier cause he isnt fat.. Violet is much more healthy even though she is still purple.. Mike can one day be a much sought after basketball player cause of his new height.

[captainjacksparrow]

Karen

Good insights Mary Kay....I had forgotten all of that! See why I love these discussions?!

[captainjacksparrow]

Jeppody

I know that in the book, Veruca is a brat and the one in the film was polite, but I really liked the film version. I wanted to push her down the chute myself, and if anything, I found her worse in the film, I think it was that sweet smile that ALWAYS works on her father. I loved the way that smile disappeared when Wonka told her she couldn't have a squirrel. The Nut Room is my favourite demise for a child. It was in the book, and it is in the film too.

[captainjacksparrow]

BarbToo

I'd like to give you a hand with that one.

[captainjacksparrow]

deppraved

I thought all the kids and their characters were terrific, I have no complaints. I wanted to hurt Violet when she called Charlie a loser. (close to home!!) I thought Mike was perfect--the original story has Mike hooked on TV Westerns and the obsession with guns, so the updated violent video game addiction was very good. (There are really no Westerns anymore- a shame I grew up on them and I still love a cowboy.)
Charlie was adorably sweet and grateful, and very mature and sensible.
Augustus was probably my least favorite character. But the kid played him very well. Veruca was my fave, and I did think she was a brat -- a proper, ladylike, calculating, manipulative, vindictive child raised with affluenza--the worst kind!! The kind of MEAN GIRL who smiles in your face, all the time she wants to take your place the backstabber. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them all get their just desserts! Especially disrespectful know-it-all Mike Teavee and Rich *itch Veruca. It was cathartic!