Over Easter the postman appeared with a lovely package from Warner Brothers containing some chocolate eggs and two films; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I could have jumped for joy, the kids dont like chocolate but I do. However, they do absolutely love films, they are total film buffs and I would not be surprised if one of them ended up either working in the film industry or being a film critic.
I like the idea of watching different interpretations of the same story or in fact films based around themes. I think this helps my children at least structure and formulate ideas for their role playing and attempts at amateur movie making.These films were great for that, especially as they are based on the Roald Dahl stories which my children love ( I know they are either love them or hate them books).
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton has been the biggest hit with the kids, they must have watched it about twenty times already. At bath-time I often hear Boy singing some of the songs! I must admit i was surprised by this because I did wonder that it might be a little bit dark for them and I thought they’d find the oompa loompas scary- well I do at least! Its a brilliant film, visually stunning an well worth acquiring for your DVD/ Blu-Ray collection because you’ll watch it time and time again- not only at Easter.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder is a film of my childhood. I can clearly remember endless school Easter holidays watching re-runs of this on the television. Again its a great film with some catchy tunes. However, not quite as true to the ‘feel’ of the Dahl books as the Burton remake. I think its a lot more of an innocent film so perhaps more suitable for little tots though and although it has a seventies feel about it it has stood up to the test of time well.
I hope this has inspired you to have a think about the films you watch and the order you watch them. We are going to have themed weeks from now on as its worked so well.
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