Would Johnny Depp be any less attractive if he had the words “PUPPY KICKER” tattooed across his forehead? I dunno. You tell me.

I have to admit that I was a little bit terrified to do today’s comic. I’ve been suffering a wicked bout of writers block. I think it’s because I’m so preoccupied with the house and the move right now.

We’ve tied up most of the loose ends. Our new refrigerator was delivered today (we sold the old one with the old house), so now we can store food and eat properly again. Yay!

All the same, it felt good to draw again. I’m not as rusty as I feared. I kind of like how it turned out, even if the posing of the characters is a bit pedestrian.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory was one of the two movies I saw last weekend. And what can I say, except that I left the theater a little underwhelmed.

It’s disapointing because I’m a big fan of both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, but this pairing just didn’t do it for me. Depp’s version of Wonka is probably the least interesting thing in the movie. That’s not to say his performance was ∗bad∗, mind you. Just that there is so many visually appealing things in the film, Depp’s performance seems perfunctory. He’s competing against the scenery, and that’s not a good thing.

It probably isn’t a good thing either that I found the scenes with Freddie Highmore’s Charlie and his family outside the factory much more interesting than what was going on inside the factory.

I’ll give points to Burton for adding depth and dimension to the Bucket family when their appearance was something I hated most about the original film. But the movie isn’t called “Charlie and His Four Grandparents Who Share A Bed” for a reason.

Some of the things the movie did right were the Oompa Loompas – here digitally replicated from the single performance of Deep Roy. I also enjoyed seeing what happens to the bratty kids AFTER they leave the factory. It’s good to see their comeuppance extended whereas in the original they were sort of whisked away, never to be heard from again.

However, something I didn’t like about the film was it’s over-reliance on CGI – especially during the boat ride. The main garden of the factory looked good. Tactile and approachable. But at the same time, oddly striped of any kind of fantastic charm. Instead, it seemed to communicate “Look what our big budget could buy!” but maybe that’s just me.

Overall, I felt there was very little reason to remake the film beyond the fact that the spoiled children who seem to think they know everything and are given everything they demand are perhaps more relevant with todays generation raised by Grand Theft Auto. Otherwise, there’s nothing much it adds to the table. Watching these children be dispatched one after the other holds no surprise. Veruca Salt’s exit being the only one that even slightly differs from the original. Instead of wanting a Golden Goose, she demands a nut-cracking, highly trained Squirrel. Way to go out on a limb there, Burton.

At any rate, I have hopes for The Corpse Bride when it comes out in September. Obviously it plays stronger to Burton’s visual sense. And it’s refreshing to see him return to original material rather than remaking things.

I’ll have another blog later thanking everyone who contributed to this last round of guest strips. In the meantime, be sure to swing by Alien Loves Predator. I did a guest strip of my own for Bernie as he and his wife are celebrating the July 7 birth of their twins. Wish them your best!