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Grandpa Joe from Willy Wanka was pretty awful...
- Thread starter Christopher
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SymbiantXenos
Member
Willy Wonka?
Johnny Wanka!
Johnny Wanka!
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
You're right, that's always just an interesting bit of, uh, trivia, ha ha.
But there's no such thing as being "well-credentialed", authors are notoriously terrible judges of adaptations of their own work, because they're too close to it. It doesn't mean changes automatically improve a screenplay but the author isn't necessarily a better judge (and probably worse) than anyone else.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is fucking bizarre even by Dahl's standards and would never have been made into a movie anyway.
Aaron Strife
Banned
Also Charlie clearly feels shame about his actions and tries to make good. Any of the other kids would have taken Wonka's scolding as permission to do whatever they wanted with the Gobstopper.
I like how Charlie is portrayed in the movie because it gives him more nuance. In the book and the second film he's thoroughly nice and squeaky clean. It's far more real to have a character who's a fundamentally good person but makes mistakes.
This too. Although I'm sure some of it came out of genuine disappointment.
I always like that smug look on his face when he sees Charlie and Grandpa Joe rejoin the group after the fizzy lifting drink episode lol.
And yes, Grandpa Joe is the real Willy Wanker of the story.
Aaron Strife
Banned
dp
King and Burgess hated Kubrick's adaptations of their books, but I don't think for one second that makes The Shining and A Clockwork Orange poor or pointless films.
BassForever
Member
Wanna Wanka Willy Wanka?
DEAD
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
The tickets were pre-ordained. The kids were all so awful and greedy (and Charlie was so good) that they were naturally going to be the first ones to find the tickets, and Wonka/Slugworth knew it.
The tickets exist to teach those specific kids a lesson, and to test Charlie.
THAT was the part that bothered you?
Construction Worker: Tell us again why you want this psychedelic nightmare tunnel filled with projections of chickens getting decapitated installed in your chocolate factory, Mr Wonka?
Wonka: Bet you 10 dollars I can get all the kids to shit themselves lmao.
lmfao
Wasn't the sequel set in space and turned into an almost aliens style horror story?
Professor Beef
Banned
Fuck Dahl, the movie was awesome
THAT was the part that bothered you?
Construction Worker: Tell us again why you want this psychedelic nightmare tunnel filled with projections of chickens getting decapitated installed in your chocolate factory, Mr Wonka?
Wonka: Bet you 10 dollars I can get all the kids to shit themselves lmao.
The real secret to Wonka's chocolate
Yeah, using Dahl as a metric for your own opinion on the quality of the film is ludicrous.
Hypemaster
Member
Wanna Wanka Willy Wanka?
Just got in this thread and I'm already out now.
He probably had the workers murdered after they finished, anyway. Confectionery business is a cutthroat business.
Imperial Bishop
Banned
Haha, do you have anymore more random tangents like this from Rome?
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
The movie either works on its own, or doesn't. Whether it is faithful to the original book is immaterial to whether or not it is any good as a movie.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
Few years late on this observation...
Troubled Bat
Member
I love you GAF. You guys definitely cheered me up from me feeling quite down.
Aaron Strife
Banned
Wonka probably knew where the tickets were planted so he sent out Mr. Wilkinson (I always loved this random ass name, like WHO IS THIS GUY EVEN) to skulk around the areas and wait for someone to find the ticket.
In the Burton movie this is how Mike Teavee finds out where his ticket is anyway.
Rushersauce
Banned
No kidding. GAF is magical, sometimes.
Christopher
Member
That and the fact he clearly says it's a test lol
Messofanego
Banned
It just means they don't have their own opinion or can't fully back it up so just use Dahl as a crutch. Many authors hate adaptations that have turned out to be great films, it's not indicative of much other than how close authors are to their own stories.
yanipheonu
Member
Eh, I always read him as more of an old guy who has had to be practical and live in the grey. He isn't exactly rich, I'm sure he's had to do dubious things to live in poverty.
I get this is a kids movie, but this seems like an overly black and white reading of the character.
Though I'd agree the fizzy lifting drink theft is his most problematic action. At least most of his actions are simply petty or selfish, but that action moves into mischief and meanness.
I get this is a kids movie, but this seems like an overly black and white reading of the character.
Though I'd agree the fizzy lifting drink theft is his most problematic action. At least most of his actions are simply petty or selfish, but that action moves into mischief and meanness.
PaleFolklore
Member
When I was a kid I would always fast forward to when they arrive at the chocolate factory. The beginning of that movie is shit and I found most of the family stuff to be boring as hell.
E.B. White also hated the animated adaptation of Charlotte's Web. Authors don't necessarily have good taste in film.
Man, we need to have a topic about that sometime, most people don't even know it exists.
There's a horrifying alien and time travel is involved, I think?
peanutbutterlatte
Member
One of the Grandmas ages to like 500 years old and the illustration is fucking horrifying. Bizarre book.
GutsOfThor
Member
Hahaha seriously? I would've watched that.
Master Yoshi
Member
Holy shit, this thread has been glorious! So glad I clicked, I'm in fucking tears!
Rygar 8 Bit
Jaguar 64-bit
you bloody wanka
Christopher
Member
I agree who cares what intent the original author had if it's better it's better - and the movie is leagues better than the book.
Wanna Wanka Willy Wanka?
Hahah
There's also the novel-exclusive sequel to E.T., E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet, wherein we find out that he's part of a race of extradimensional super botanists, and was a highly esteemed doctor among them right up until the point where he wandered off on his own and they had to backtrack to pick his dumb ass back up from Earth. Living in disgrace, he starts pining for Earth and psychically spies on Elliot, who, thanks to time dilation, is already growing into a teenager and has a crush on a girl. This horrifies E.T., who developed his impression of human adults solely from watching TV, and he starts making plans to escape and go back to earth to save Elliot from growing up. This entails stealing a bunch of shit, roping some of the robots and other intelligent species on the planet into helping him, and strapping a bunch of fire flowers onto a hollowed out mega turnip he grew so he can launch the whole thing into space, where the galactic fleet is baffled to find themselves being outrun by a rogue vegetable. The book ends with him just barely managing to slip through the wormhole to the Milky Way, while his psychic connection to Elliot helps Elliot get the girl.
I'm probably missing some stuff, as it's a 260+ page book and I only skimmed it just now, but that's the gist of it.
I always pictured Grandpa Joe as being the self-insert for adults who read the novel or watched the movie, the guy who'd do what they would do in that situation. The bedridden thing was always a little fraught logically, but that's the sort of thing that's hard to translate from Dahl's fairly cartoony world into a live action movie.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
CLEAR AS CRYSTAL! YOU STOLE FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS. YOU BUMPED INTO THE CEILING WHICH NOW HAS TO BE WASHED AND STERYLIZED SO YOU GET NOTHING! YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY SIR!
I know that line by heart. I can recite it without needing to watch the movie. My favorite line from a movie. Well one of them.
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