New V Old Willy Wonka

New V. Old: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

As a lover of Tim Burton's work, when I heard he was doing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005 I was ecstatic. It also happened to include two of my favorite actors in it: Johnny Depp (Willy Wonka) and Helena Carter (Mrs. Bucket). How in the world could this movie go wrong at all? It is a story that everyone loves and it has an all star cast and a highly acclaimed director behind it. It went wrong for me and with a heavy heart I have to say now after watching both the original and the Burtonized version that I am in favor of the original.  

One of my main issues with the Burton version is how Jonny Depp plays Willy Wonka; he is much too sinister for this character. For all of you other Burton fans out there, I understand THAT is his style and that the Willy Wonka in this story is much different from the original. However, even in the original movie Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) was sinister at times but it wasn't taken to the extreme as it was here. I am in love with the Willy Wonka character of old that had a twinkle in his eye but was obviously more intelligent and witty than most people saw, or at least an adult would see. He has his moments such as when Veruca Salt (Julie Cole) is licking the flavored wallpapers and makes fun of the snozzberries, and Wonka takes her by the mouth as says: : *We* are the music makers... and *we* are the dreamers of dreams. The tone that Wilder uses for small lines like that which most people don't remember as children gave a somewhat sinister tone; though he is a fun and loving character he is dead serious. Another thing to remember is that the Wonka of old I think showed hardly any emotion when each child was lost; very apathetically he would say things such as "Please...Stop…don't do that…" but nothing heartfelt except for the chocolate river one. This is highly important that Wonka have a sense of detachment but not utterly so like the present Depp version has. Along with his hair, sinister perfect smile, and perfect skin no child would want to go near him. He is not endearing at all which doesn't lull the children and adults into that old false sense of security that you need for this plot.

Another part that should be noted is the change in how the Oompa Loompas are done and their songs. While I understand that Tim Burton probably wanted to make the Oompa Loompas grander in their numbers I felt that he lost something with them by having one person play all of them and just using CG and green screens which is how it was obviously done. The fun of the Oompa Loompas as a child for me was seeing all of these orange faced and green haired people with poufy pants, sing simple little songs of warning; nothing overly elaborate. That taken there is one song that I do enjoy from the new one and that is the one sang when Veruca (Julia Winter) falls down the garbage shoot. The reason thought that I think the music of the Oompa Loompas in the new one sticks out is the fact that no one else is singing! Why did they cut all the songs from the old one or at least try to modernize some of them? I feel that cutting songs such as "Pure Imagination," "I Want It Now," and "I've Got A Golden Ticket" caused the movie to lose something. Burton had to cut these songs though so that he could add in all the extra rooms he wanted us to see in the glass elevator and the underlying plot about Wonka and his father.

The plot about Wonka and his father though ingenious by Burton I felt took away from what this story really is about: Charlie. This is about Charlie, a boy who has had nothing all his life and who has been picked on by all of his peers, finding the LAST Golden Ticket and getting to have an experience. It is also him trying to see if he really can be good when faced with the one thing that all humans seem to want more of, money. Though faced with a chance to get all the money his family will ever need by giving an Everlasting Gobstopper to Slugworth (Gunter Meisner) he gives back the key to Wonka. That is what the story is about how pure children should be and uncorrupt by things such as money and power. As Wonka said: So shines a good deed in a weary world.

All of that aside there is much about the newer version that was very good. The chocolate room was ten times better because it could be done with CG and made to look just as grand as it was imagined to be and almost all of the actors were spot on and played very well. My hat is off to Tim Burton who has taken classic and made it his own as he always does. It is almost unfair to compare and contrast in when it comes to him because when you see a Burton movie you aren't seeing a remake, you seeing something new.

There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be. - Wonka