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Critics generally seem to agree that there are things to like and to dislike about the two new films opening today, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers. In the case of the former, most conclude that the bad outweighs the good. In the case of the latter, good prevails. Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal is one of several critics who conclude that the opening charm of Charlie "gradually gives way to a peculiar state that I can only describe as engagement without enjoyment." Likewise Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post comments that "the film's strenuous efforts at becoming a camp classic eventually begin to wear thin." Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News predicts that the movie will "delight children, annoy fans of the 1971 version ... and perplex everyone else." A. O. Scott in the New York Times calls the newest adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, "wondrous and flawed." And Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times begins his review of the movie by remarking: "When it comes to confections, Tim Burton has confessed, his preference is "dark, bitter chocolate." Which is not exactly a surprise. The director's visionary, phantasmagorical version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is equally dark and, if not exactly bitter, unapologetically, relentlessly strange. Burton's gifts ensure you won't be able to take your eyes off the screen, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be happy with what you're seeing." |
