Willy Wonk

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One, a beloved movie for adults and children of all ages, the other a made for the money remake that just doesn’t capture the fun and adventure of the first one. Both of these movies come from the U.S., and are both very different. In the lead role of Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder gives a great performance as the chocolate factory’s owner. In the new one, the lead role goes to the one and only Johnny Depp, riding the coattails of the success of Pirates of the Caribbean. The original was directed by the one and only Mel Stuart who the only other movie he’s really directed is Wattstax which is a movie I’m sure 90% of the public have never heard of. The new one is done by Tim Burton, who’s considered a great director who infuses his movies with his own brand of uniqueness and style. Both are in color and the new one is about 15 minutes longer than the original which clocked in at an hour and forty minutes.

In the end, both movies remain fairly similar to each other based on plot. Poor boy finds golden ticket, takes the tour, watches as one by one his tour mates fall “prey” to the factory and at the end the factory is given to the poor boy. Burton had been quoted as saying he tried to make his version, which named itself after the book, giving Charlie the title credit instead of Willy Wonka, more like the book, which was written by Ronald Dahl. There aren’t many differences in the plot, but there are small differences. I’ll start by saying I wasn’t a fan of the new one that much. First off, the oompa loompas, which are so beloved in the first one with their catchy songs and interesting outfits, are terrible in the new one. They sing crappy songs, that aren’t as catchy and is played entirely by one man who is CGIed to make him look like 20 different loompas. Johnny Depp is an interesting choice to play Willy Wonka, but to be honest, in this movie he’s just weird. A little creepy too. The hair bob, pale skin, weird voice and mannerisms make him as far away from Gene Wilder’s Wonka as possible. While I guess this was done to try to distance itself enough from the original. Personally, I really truly despised Depp’s performance in this. And while you could tell his factory was created from all the latest greatest CGI and 100 million dollar budget that comes with a big summer movie, it still doesn’t feel as intimate as Wilder’s version.

The new one tries to delve a little bit into Wonka’s past, which it didn’t really in the original as far as I can remember. And personally that hurts it a little bit. I think the audience is better off not knowing that much about Wonka because it gives him a mysterious aura to him, and makes you wonder, who would go to great lengths to build the world’s largest, and strangest, chocolate factory. And when the kids start disappearing, its actually made more humorous then frightening which it could have easily been like. I mean if you really think about it, these kids are disappearing, and yet you never feel for the kids, or feel anger towards Wonka for letting it happen. You shrug it off like he does, and in the original you just didn’t feel that as much. At least I didn’t. I just kept hoping the movie would speed up until the end when Charlie is given the factory.

One thing that I will give the new one credit with is the casting of the boy, Charlie. The casting of him, played by Peter Ostrum, was a good choice. I thought he did the part well. In the new one, he is played by Freddie Highmore.