I've been to the Jelly Belly factory and the Scharffen Berger factory, and on both tours there was a little part of me that hoped there would be Oompa Loompas running around. They wouldn't have even had to carry off annoying kids while singing catchy songs--I would would have been happy with just the catchy songs.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is one of those movies from childhood whose details I could only vaguely recall, but that I still remember loving. What I mostly remembered from it--besides all of the hysterically grotesque things done to the kids--was the uncomfortable feeling at the beginning of Charlie and his poverty-stricken (and mostly bed-ridden) family. Perhaps it was some pre-conscious fear of the possibility of plummeting to the depths of the socio-economic pyramid, but more likely it was just the 70's European feel to the thing. (Plus there were no oompa loompas at that point in the story.)

Browsing through iTunes the other day, I came across the trailer for an updated version, with the correct name, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Johnny Depp in the Willy Wonka role. I'm generally past the point where I see a movie trailer and say "I can't wait for this movie to come out!" So I was a little flummoxed when I found myself replaying the trailer again and again. And then the next day. And thinking about the trailer when I wasn't watching it. And being angry at the calendar for making July so far from January, and Warner Bros. for not putting the movie out right now, and Johnny Depp for not using his considerable pull in Hollywood to provide me with an early release, and George Bush because, well, I am just always angry at him.

I don't even know why the trailer excited me so much. It may have had something to do with Johnny Depp. I liked him in Pirates of the Caribbean (in which his portrayal is apparently gay friendly), and his playful and weird look in this movie does provide a strong hook for me.) It may have also had something to do with the fact that Tim Burton directed.

Most of all, though, I reckon I liked the ad simply because it was "catchy," and look forward to the movie because it seems like it could be a stylistically visual feast.

That I'm uncomfortable with this ad's effect on me is risible. (Okay--that means "laughable;" I'm trying to restore some intellectual dignity here). I've become so hypersensitive to media bombardment that when my something slips through my cynical defenses it makes me uneasy. But sometimes it is okay to just relax and have fun. And maybe over-analyze things a little bit.

movies Charlie+and+the+Chocolate+Factory media over-analysis