Enter a world of pure imagination this Easter and celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the classic childhood film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, with an extra special copy of the DVD. To celebrate, we’ve five copies of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the 2005 adaptation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, up-for-grabs for five lucky readers.

Directed by Mel Stuart and starring the legendary Gene Wilder as the unforgettable and eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka, the film has enthused and inspired generations for four decades.  Its mischievous and whimsical narrative captured the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide and firmly established the film as a cult classic that all the family can enjoy again and again.

Whichever version you prefer, there’s something to keep the whole family entertained this Easter…and beyond! One lucky winner can also be in with the chance of winning a £10,000 prize with a Golden Ticket to be found in every copy of the DVD purchased in UK DVD outlets throughout April and May.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are available on DVD, Blu-ray and to download. You can order your copies here.

To enter our competition, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who played the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

1. Gene Wilder
2. Charlie Bucket
3. Mel Stuart

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 19th April 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

©2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

Soul Surfer is almost a good movie, its flaws are easy to forgive in light of the fact that the story is as inspirational as anything that will be released this year. Even when the film dips into sappy melodrama and cliched sequences, its story is uplifting enough to help the audience through the running time.

The film’s voice-over narration by Bethany Hamilton, played by AnnaSophia Robb, affords us a clear window into her world and the world of a surfer and makes the tragedy that befalls her all the more terrible. We need to care about Bethany so the attack and subsequent narrative has more weight, and Robb, along with the rest of the cast, do a good job in setting up the premise of the film.

The film’s family dynamic is played out nicely; the parents, played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt, are good in their respective roles and have plenty to do in terms of driving the story. The minor characters like Bethany’s friend and her family fill out a cast that, while never distracting to the story, are nothing special. All in all, the cast does the most with a script that had no less than seven credited writers on the story, which doesn’t necessarily make for an incoherent narrative, but rather, makes for a story that has no real voice.

One of the overlaying themes of the film is faith, based in Christianity, which is obvious in its approach but never preachy. The faith aspect revolves around Bethany’s involvement with a church youth group and its youth leader, played by Carrie Underwood. Underwood makes her film debut here, and its really nothing to write home about, however, that isn’t to say that her performance is bad, it just is. Director Sean McNamara, whose credits are deeply rooted in Disney channel fare and not much else, has a style of his direction which makes for a film that goes through the motions within the standard three-act structure while not making any leaps or bounds.

It’s hard to call this film anything more than inspiration on demand, but the movie may have a hard time finding viewership outside of a faith-based audience. That’s not to say that the film shouldn’t be viewed by non-believers or that a general audience won’t get anything out of the film; this is a film that takes the sports movie formula and plays out an inspiring yarn in a beautiful setting. It’s worth noting that the surfing sequences in the film are a lot of fun to watch while the shark attack was about as heavy as the drama got and made for an impressive sequence.

Soul Surfer is a decent family flick that doesn’t reinvent the sports genre, but does it’s best to leave the audience with a sense of how tragedy can bring out the best in someone through strength, perseverance and a little bit of faith.

**~~~ (2/5)

Review by Anthony Charles

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly (via FirstShowing), we get to see the full length trailer for Soul Surfer tells the story of a top notch surfer (play by AnnaSophia Robb) who loses her arm in a surf attack and has to learn how to surf all over again with just one arm.

Sean McNamara directs with a cast which also includes Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Jeremy Sumpter, Kevin Sorbo, Craig T. Nelson and Carrie Underwood. Soul Surfer is scheduled for release in the UK 17th June and you can check out the new trailer below.

You may recall the story from 2003 of female surfer Bethany Hamilton who (following a run-in with a tiger shark), lost her left arm in the attack, only to overcome that life-changing injury and return to the waves less than a month after the incident.

It’s the kind of inspirational tale that screams out for a film adaptation and sure enough, the big screen version of her story went into production last year and the teaser trailer is now up on YouTube.

Soul Surfer stars Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s AnnaSophia Robb in the role of Hamilton, while Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt co-star as her parents. The shark incident isn’t touched upon in the teaser, which I’m guessing the makers are consciously downplaying in the marketing of the film, as to avoid it becoming an off-putting Jaws Jr. for the intended family audience.

Maybe they should be looking into how it could play as a double bill alongside this year’s similarly themed limb loss/life affirmation tale, 127 Hours.

While it seemed Sam Mendes was going to follow up Revolutionary Road and Away We Go, his ‘marriages under a magnifying glass’ double bill, with the next Bond film, or perhaps a trip to OZ with Robert Downey Jr., it looks as though he is returning to more familiar ground with his next film.

Focus Features have him primed to take on Ian McEwan’s novella On Chesil Beach, a painfully English tragicomedy of the fallout of consummation and its effects on a newly married couple.

Of course the current darling of the silver screen, Carey Mulligan, is having her named dropped in the mix as well, and apparently Mendes and Mulligan are talking.

After An Education Mulligan’s name orbits most projects requiring a young woman, My Fair Lady and David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo being just two recent, and totally unsubstantiated, examples. However she would fit in pretty perfectly with the married woman in the novel, and as long as they find a leading man to equal her (Andrew Garfield, I’m looking at you…) then Mendes can complete his trilogy of muddled marriages.

McEwan will be adapting his novella, and On Chesil Beach follows Atonement and Enduring Love onto the silver screen as examples of impressive adaptations.

All of this comes to us from Deadline, who also mention Mendes directing a stage musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

On the 4^th of June Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland will finally be released on Blu-ray and DVD giving us all a chance to own our own piece of his colourful vision of Lewis Carroll’s Underworld.  To mark the occasion Disney invited HeyUGuys to tumble down the rabbit hole and discover the place the adventure began – to journey with them to Wonderland!

Antony House on Torpoint in Cornwall sits on the ruggedly handsome Rame Peninsula close to Plymouth.  Tim Burton plucked this Wonderland from a huddle of more than thirty historic houses for its singular beauty and extraordinary grounds.  The family seat of the Carew Poles has been casting a spell over visitors for nearly three hundred years and the magic of its hidden gardens and the elegant gaze of the house proved irresistible to the visionary director.  We wandered wherever Alice had trod, following her footsteps along the very same paths she had ever-so-recently chased a long eared stranger…

Our tour guide for our time in Alice’s wonderful world was the National Trust’s Harvey Edgington.  An integral part of the negotiation to win the location bid, Harvey told us how valuable a deal like this can be for a stately home like Antony and the area in which it stands.  At the National Trust’s Holywell Bay, another Cornish site, a scene from the Bond film Die Another Day was shot.  In one month the tiny village location had a half million pound boost to its economy – such is the impact when Hollywood comes calling.  In light of this Harvey told us it would have been utterly churlish not to do everything in his power to secure the Alice deal.  There was a more personal twist to the story too; Antony’s pride was at stake having missed out on a cameo role, as Violet Beauregarde’s house, in Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory only a few short years before.  The victory of the win was made all the sweeter by the starring role the house plays in Alice!

As we toured the grounds Harvey told us Tim had been captivated by the symmetry of Antony.  He fell in love with its windows and its calm silver/grey stone face.  Such was the appeal of the house that the interior scenes of Alice’s London home were also shot at Antony – in many ways it became a multi-talented member of the cast.  Two of the gardeners joined us on our stroll across the lawns and through the yew hedges into secret summer gardens.  Brian and Valerie described the surreality of life through the Tim Burton lens:  adding white fabric roses to heavily flowering bushes in order to weigh them with fairytale opulence then bending down to discover them as scented as their living counterparts.  Or discovering their trees were too quirky to be part of the ordinary world and watching life-sized fakes hammered together by a team of Burton Elves.  They adored every moment of the Alice adventure and were delighted that the National Trust had allowed a hint of Wonderland to remain.

After filming wrapped the Trust commissioned an internationally renowned theatrical transformation and installation company, Dodgy Clutch, to create a visitor experience which would maintain the spirit of Carroll’s fantasy.  On our walk we stumbled across several surprises secreted in the grounds – a forest of toadstools clustered around a Rabbit Hole slide, a riddling, writhing, Cheshire Cat hidden in the depths of a conical Yew and a clock with a familiar face at its heart that kept perfect Underworld time!  In the house, too, the presence of the story was tangible and the tiny bedroom Burton (impractically) chose to be Alice’s own seemed quite poised to expect her return.

The Carew Pole family occupy Antony House still and remained there throughout filming.  In fact Lady Mary was so enamoured of the process that she volunteered her services as an extra.  The house manager told us the family keep to their private rooms when visitors are touring the house but in the evening they venture out to occupy the whole of their home as so many generations have done before.  I fell in love with this vision of Antony as a place haunted by friendly ghosts; it seemed so much in keeping with the otherworldliness of Alice.  Though staff were sworn to secrecy, when the deal was done in 2008, one hint was left for clever eyes to spot: at the crest of the staircase leading to the room that would become hers sits an oversized cup and saucer patterned with an infamous tea party.  A topiary echo of this clue now tops the Yew hedge beside the house.

It is impossible to estimate the impact Alice in Wonderland will have on Antony House this year.  Between the 16^th and 25^th of September 2008 she witnessed 200 crew descend on her sweeping lawns.  Extra ferries were laid on every morning at 4am to lead the daily procession of extras and cast from their slumber into hair and makeup.  When recruitment of extras began 3,000 people queued in the hope of winning one of  250 chances to shine.  Certainly we felt the lingering excitement in the air as we picnicked under watchful eye.  Already the sparkle of Alice has attracted record visitor numbers, who knows what the future may bring…

Good things according to Harvey Edgington, whose experience in bringing the tall tales of the big screen to Trust property is immense.  When Pride and Prejudice was released in September 2005 the effect on Basildon Park, its location, was immediate as visitor numbers shot up by an incredible 172%.  Once the contracts are secured Harvey and his colleagues are in the unique position of being able to command Hollywood to dance to the Trust’s tune on occasion.  The Alice shoot had a Conservator on set daily to prevent any damage to the house or land.  In the case of a location like Antony this involved such creative precautions as tennis balls on the feet of cameras to prevent damage to the floors and ingenious floating camera rigs which hovered above the action rather than from the fragile ceilings of the house.

In an outdoor location such as Freshwater Bay, used for the dramatic battle scene in Ridley Scott’s recent Robin Hood, the imperative to protect the ‘fixtures and fittings’ is just as strong.  Having only the previous week seen the Bay play host to a scene for the final installment in the Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -  Harvey went onto Ridley Scott’s set to oversee its transformation into a bloodied battle ground.  Though the cliffs of Dover were added later the physical location is 100% National Trust.  When informed that this Site of Scientific Interest would be hosting a scene described as “the first ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan retold with horses and arrows” Harvey had to remind the filmmakers that no new species were permitted to be introduced to the landscape.  And then insist they remove a carpet of muscle shells they had recently added for dramatic effect, literally bringing a big budget movie to its knees!

I hope that Antony House does continue to benefit from the Burton touch – it is a simply magical place and somewhere I hope you will discover for yourselves.  I am so looking forward to returning there when the Alice in Wonderland Blu-ray and DVD is released on Friday.

(All set photographs courtesy of Disney and selected location pictures by Paul Glendell.  Our huge thanks to Lydia Rodrigues and Stephanie Ryan at Disney, Emma Wright and Matt White at Taylor Herring and all at Antony House!)

I’m not really one for photographs, hence the serious lack of any images to accompany this year’s Cannes film festival coverage, but sometimes even I feel compelled to go all pap and snap-happy…

Walking into the Salle Debussy- the second largest screen at the Palais de Festivals- we were met with images from Burton’s brilliant new artwork tomb and exhibition. I am a huge fan of Burton’s artistic manifesto, and it was great to see his original concept drawings in all their glory at the cinema, and even more impressive to see how close the characters end up looking to the sketches.

How I wish Tim Burton had been able to make Batman Forever! Watching the first two modern Batmans back now, they look incredible, and the characters are both playfully imagined and wonderfully brought to screen, without ever being as horribly pantomime as the villains of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Chris Nolan may have made unquestionnably brilliant additions to the Batman screen canon, but part of me will always yearn for Burton’s take on The Riddler, or how he would have brought Robin into the story. Sadly, that boat sailed a long time ago, and we are just left with the hint of promise in Burton’s wonderful sketches.

And it wasnt just the Batman sketches on show.

And my favourite of the lot?

As well as the pillar artwork (which was reproduced every day for the cover of the Daily Screenings Guide), Burton’s image, along with a distinctly familiar silhouette emblazoned the screen before Un Certain Regard screenings.

If the Burton artwork tickles your fancy and you werent lucky enough to get to the New York exhibition which ended in April, you can pick up The Art of Tim Burton from the director’s official website for a very reasonable price. It’s already firmly on my wanted list.

Band of Brothers is rightly regarded as a high point in television drama, and the ten episode mini series is as impressive today (particularly on the blu-ray version) as it was nine years ago. With the series beginning tonight on Sky Movies today is The Pacific Day on HeyUGuys, and we’ve got something very special for you.

A few weeks ago we met something of a legend in the special effects industry, a man whose credits include two Indiana Jones films, Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd for Tim Burton, The Bourne Ultimatum and Green Zone as well as both Band of Brothers and its companion piece The Pacific. This is the man who built Willy Wonka’s Chocolate River, and the man whom Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg called on to produce the crucial special effects for their new series.

Joss Williams has an impressive  IMDb page and his work with Paul Greengrass, Tim Burton as well as Spielberg and Hanks charts a very interesting course of three decades at the forefront of a ever changing industry. Not cowed by the surge of CGI and visual effects, Williams’ positive and professional attitude is one borne out of a dedication to use both practical, in-camera effects with the enhancement that post production CGI can achieve.

Detailing his work on The Pacific and Band of Brothers Williams talks about the changes to the process in the nine year interim, and there’s a very special behind the scenes look at the aforementioned Chocolate River constructed for Tim Burton and his 2005 version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

He also talks about his next project, the Martin Scorsese directed The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Our thanks to Joss for taking the time to speak with us. The Pacific is on April the 5th on Sky Movies HD.

This week sees the release of Fantastic Mr. Fox in the US, an adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl children’s story. Wes Anderson directs. Best known for adult themed, quirky comedy dramas, there is a question over whether he has been able to craft a movie with his unique style of humour that also appeals to a younger audience.

Whilst past Dahl adaptations like Matilda and James and the Giant Peach have been firmly aimed at children, it has been proved that his stories can be made to appeal to both young and old. The brilliant Gene Wilder stars, as we look at 1971′s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Willy Wonka opens with Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum). The youngest member of a truly working-class family, Charlie lives with his hard-working mother, and two sets of bedridden grandparents. The definition of paupers, they all struggle to exist on little more than cabbage water, with a simple loaf of bread considered a luxury item. Big hearted Charlie works a paper route after school, to contribute what little he can towards his families meagre existence. It’s an ordinary day at school for Charlie when word comes in that Mr Willy Wonka is opening the doors of his factory for one day only. The world famous chocolatier has been a recluse for many years, since a fallout with now rival Slugworth. No-one ever goes in or out of Wonka’s factory, and it’s a mystery how he manages to produce vast volumes of wonderful chocolate.

The whole world goes Wonka mad, as literally millions of bars of chocolate are bought up, everyone hoping to find one of just five lucky golden tickets that entitles the bearer entry to a confectionary paradise. Charlie is no exception, and dares to dream that he has a chance as good as anyone’s, despite not being able to afford more than a couple of bars of Wonka’s favourites. Four lucky children find tickets, could Charlie possibly be number five?

Willy Wonka is almost a game of two halves. Charlie’s under privileged existence, and his dreams of sampling just some of the luxuries others around him take for granted, is heart wrenching. His love for his family, and particularly his Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) are touching. Charlie inevitably finds his ticket, and the scene where Grandpa Joe staggers out of bed for the first time is genuinely moving, his song ‘I’ve got a golden ticket’ beautiful, despite his lack of a good singing voice. The first thirty minutes of Willy Wonka, the story of a poor hard working young boy achieving his greatest wish, are almost Dickensian.

Then Gene Wilder turns up, and the story is turned on it’s head. What starts off as a story of childhood innocence becomes a cutting look at what is wrong with the ‘youth of today’. Gene Wilder’s song, and the beautifully realised confectionary garden replete with chocolate waterfall are awe inspiring, a children’s fantasy land brought to splendid technicolor life. But despite the brightly coloured scenery, the tale takes a decidedly dark turn. Augustus Gloop’s gluttony, Violet Beauregarde’s passion for gum are their downfall, the greedy and spoilt Veruca Salt and square eyed Mike Teevee also get their just desserts.

Firmly a product of a more innocent time, Willy Wonka is none the less still relevant for our time. Ok, so the idea of the world coming to a stand still for a glorified Cadbury’s World tour is a little out of touch. And the wonderment of seeing people with brightly coloured hair and orange faces is now a mundane experience to anyone who frequents Essex nightclubs. But the concerns over greedy, overweight ASBO teens, obnoxious, addicted to TV are more pressing now than ever. Slugworth’s attempts at industrial espionage are an everyday occurrence in corporate America and Britain. And the idea of promotional chocolate wrappers was ahead of it’s time, today products of all kinds are subject to this style of marketing.

There are some good performances here. Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket is almost TOO sickly sweet, and most of the children and parents are passable. But Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe is wonderfully confident and understated. And the stand out performances by Gregg Kinnear and particularly Julie Dawn Cole as father and daughter Salts far outshine the other members of the tour party. But Gene Wilder owns the screen from his first appearance to the end. Known for great adult comedy roles, it’s perhaps ironic that his greatest performance came as a character in a children’s story.

A touching children’s story with wonderfully written songs, and a darkly comic undertone make Willy Wonka an amazing movie, with much for all ages to enjoy. If Anderson’s Mr. Fox turns out half as good as this, it’ll be well worth watching.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is on general release in the UK now, and opens in the US this Friday 13th November.

Bazmann