I never liked Willy Wonka either. I always thought it was a bit disturbing. But the movie that really freaked me out: “Operation Beurre de Peanut” (“The Peanut Butter Solution”) directed by Roch Demers. I have never been able to watch the whole thing without being totally freaked out!
I can’t express how much I hate this movie.
Gene Wilder, whom I ordinarily like, is about as badly miscast as he could possibly be; the Oompahs are extremely objectionable, even granting that retaining the original conception would have been impossible; and, of course, there is the minor problem that the screenwriters utterly distorted the moral point of the book for no reason at all.
(Sorry, there are some movies one just takes personally…)
This is extremely disturbing. Just this afternoon, I had a discussion with my girlfriend about how disturbing Willy Wonka is. She loves it, it creeps me out.
But hey, “Silence of the Lambs” is her all-time favorite movie, so that says something about Wonka-lovers. 
Although, I do have to admit that Gene Wilder is excellent in it. Creepy, but excellent.
I had a copy of the book when I was a kid, and I well remember the illustrations that showed the Oompa Loompas as black. Not long ago I picked up a recent edition of the book, and to my horror someone had gone in and changed THE ILLUSTRATIONS to make them all look like hippies! WTF?!? they had been redrawn to have long flowing hair and straight beards. I’m sorry, this kind of revisionism is just ridiculous. I won’t buy another copy until I can find an OLD one in a used bookstore.
Oompa loompa oompity ooo
I’ve got another riddle for you
Willy Wonka is a great movie. I even put it on my recent list of favorites. I can’t wait for the DVD release.
And speaking of live action Dr Seuss movies (aka The Grinch) has anyone else seen The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T? Now that was a strange kid’s movie.
Man, was that movie bad. Didn’t like Wilder in it at all. I was confounded by the Oompa-Loompas, and is there anything more lame than the electric kool-aid lyric displays when they sang? Loved the book, though.
My parents, usually not cruel people, took me to see this in the theater when I was 5. They then had to pick up their hysterically screaming child and exit from the theater after the girl turned into a blueberry.
I didn’t see it again until my college roommate turned out to be some sort of Willy Wonka addict (she had other good qualities that compensated for this). Ugh, it was still a freakshow after all these years.
A freaky thing not mentioned yet is all those grandparents who seemingly can’t get out of bed. The same bed. No wonder Charlie wanted to go to the Chocolate Factory, his home was essentially one giant bedsore.
Mamapotomus, your comment about smacking the wee person was the highlight of my week.
WW is a dark movie, not for everyone.
Somebody has mentioned “The Grinch.”
Is anyone aware of the terror now at Universal?
It turns out that Dr. Suess, with his nonsense rhymes and nonsense words, is almost impossible to translate.
So after spending $117 million on their film, Universal discovers that “The Grinch That Stole Christmas” is recognized by people in North America and little where else.
International market, anyone?
The only thing that creeps me out about this movie is when Augustus Gloop gets jammed in that pipe in the chocolate river. It is partially the source of my minor claustrophobic fears.
Actually, WW is on DVD. It’s your “standard” DVD with no neat extras.
From,
Anake
PS: And as for the Grinch, I thought that was a wonderful movie! In reference to other Carrey characters, I thought Carrey’s Grinch was a cross between Ace Ventura, The Riddler, and Tony Clifton (although Clifton was an Andy Kaufman creation).
It never would have occurred to me that WW could freak anyone out!
That’s so strange; I was talking with my roommate today about how I hadn’t seen the movie or read the book in so long, and I was wondering how I’d react to it now. I hope it won’t scare me. . .
No!! this is the best movie. I watched this movie so many times when I was a child.
If I watched it for the first time now (as an older person), I’d probably be freaked out. But I was seven or eight or so, when I watched it a lot. God, I love that movie. I saw it on TNT last night…yes, it was a bit disturbing. That boat ride. Ahh…
I always thought it was funny when Willy Wonka didn’t really care what happened to the kids. They were such brats. The part when he starts screaming at Charlie is also kind of freaky though.
They could show it at the Vatican. There is a Latin translation of the book.
for good treatment of the wonka myth