I really liked it too. You totally nailed the highlights for me in your review. I'd heard the cannibalism line, but the Puppet Burn Ward had me in hysterics, especially the "relatively new" part. I, too, got weepy over the newspaper clippings. I've never read the book, and I'm a huge fan of the Gene Wilder version. Still, I didn't mind all the changes from the story I was familiar with. The parts with Charlie's family were a great improvement (Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina were hoots!) and I really appreciated the Wonka backstory. Oh! Did you notice the Cabaret connection? Mr. Teevee was played by Adam Godley, who was Cliff in the London production!

Here the weekend discount prices are only for the first showing on each screen. How weird that your theater had such late matinees!

There was no laughing girl in the theater for me, but there was a nice bulldyke -- a very unusual sighting in that part of town. She ended up sitting several rows in front of us. The theater was crowded, maybe that's why the families on either side of her didn't mind her proximity to their cute 13-year-old daughters.