A day of little people

It's been an interesting day celebrating Old Bilbo Baggins' birthday -- it started with an impromptu performance in the space between the library and the IT building, near the cafe of a little person ('dwarf' is no longer PC, but I prefer it as a term) with tribal tats all over his arms and body... playing the didgeridoo... for like a half-hour. It was surreal, to say the least.

Then I rushed home to take one of my little people (Eli) out to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while it was still in the movie theaters, and in it were of course Oompa Loompas. They were weird and tiny and freaked me out -- not real-sized small-person actors, but one digitally reduced and reproduced actor for all the oompa loompas. Totally freaky, and not convincing.

I don't want to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it, but my general take on the film was 'meh' -- qualified with the following response. The cinematography and art direction were superb. The script was weak, and the direction was a bit off -- no one seemed to be acting natural at all, but were instead surreal characters playing out a emotionally muted pantomime of the first movie's characters. I found this latest version of the masterpiece somewhat lacking, as beautiful as it was. Depp was great in his role, and really turned the character from the avuncular i-know-something-you-don't know figure that Gene Wilder created into a closeted and unpredictable shut-in with serious sociopathic tendencies. Depp scared me, but in a good way. The movie wrapped up nicely, but in the end left something to be desired.

Okay, I'm tired, it's 2am and I'm going to be expected to get up with the kids tomorrow morning. ttfn.