July 15: CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and THE WEDDING CRASHERS

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Story: Tim Burton takes a stab at retelling Roald Dahl's children's book while trying to remake the 1971 classic starring Gene Wilder. Burton's version stars Johnny Depp as the eccentric/downright crazy candymaker Willy Wonka, who has hidden five golden tickets in candy packaging which will allow five children to enter his equally eccentric/downright crazy candy factory. Freddie Highmore plays the title character of Charlie, a lower-class boy who nabs a ticket.

The Good: Johnny Depp is the new golden boy of Hollywood, catapulting to any role he likes after getting a rare Oscar nod for a comedic performance as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. It's a well deserved distinction for someone who has almost always delivered, and he looks to keep doing it here. The pairing with Burton seems to work, as it did in Edward Scissorhands, and the preview for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, starring Depp's vocal talents, looks just as promising as the Charlie trailer. It's pretty well known that Depp insisted on young Highmore getting the title role after working with him in Finding Neverland, and I'm willing to take Depp's endorsement. Burton is pretty well proven, if a bit of an acquired taste in some instances. Even screenwriter John August has a pretty good fantastical background, having penned Big Fish and Titan A.E. (we won't hold the Charlie's Angels movies against him... much), and a decent base for characters in those two and Go.

The Bad: Natural and inevitable comparisons to the Gene Wilder version. My hope is that this will prove itself to be an entirely different movie, but that won't stop anyone. And as great as some of Burton's record is, some of the rest is a little more questionable (for everyone's Big Fish, they have a Planet of the Apes). Let's hope this one falls on the right side of the tracks.

The Verdict: Looks to be good. I'm getting remake-cautious, so as long as they demonstrate that this is a new adaptation instead, I'll be happy. I'll see nearly anything Depp is in at this point (yeah, I saw Secret Window), so I expect to be amused.

My Guess: * * * 1/2

The Wedding Crashers

The Story: Uhhh... pretty faint, as I'm aware. Apparently, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson play best friends who spend their free time sneaking into weddings uninvited in order to hook up with the single women present. Everything goes awry when Wilson actually starts to fall for one of his marks (Rachel McAdams) and Vaughn nets one that just won't go away.

The Good: Vaughn and Wilson will do ANYTHING for a laugh, and I expect to see a good amount of that anything... on a side note, remember when Vaughn tried to be a serious actor? Aren't you glad he stopped? Helmer David Dobkin doesn't have a lot of experience, but he did have fun with Wilson in the still-kinda fun sequel Shanghai Knights. The inherent chemistry between Wilson and Vaughn should be all different kinds of fun.

The Bad: There are those in the world who might be turned off by the blatant lack of any real redeeming theme or message. Stay away from my movie.

The Verdict: More fun than it probably should be. Vaughn and Wilson is a teams that has needed to happen for awhile. So long as you can forget that someone in the studio demanded some sort of plot, this'll be great fun.

My Guess: * * *