Stark raving Wonka Bonkers!

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2005)

First and foremost, I have not read Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Most of you will think "then how can I review it?". Well listen up; this means I can keep an open mind on certain elements as of course I won't be judging the entire film purely on its faithfulness. But going by the accurate title this time round, I figure Tim Burton is going down the old 'faithfulness' road.
Little in the previous Gene Wilder film did we ever assume Wonka is crazy. In Burton's new adaptation we are given a number of hints such as Wonka repeating himself when he is not aware. His obvious social detraction from society and the misencounter of love. After spending a number of decades in a chocolate factory along with 'little people' you'd expect to be slightly bonkers.
Towards the end of the movie I began to feel the heart of this film is about the Wonka's exploration of 'what is love?' Given that you know from either the book or the Gene Wilder version that nearing the end Wonka offers the factory to Charlie on the condition that he lives there by himself. Wonka has trouble understanding his negative choice because he hasn't felt love or a connection to people before.
Here is where Burton's film has something over the 1971 movie; now we are given a number of flashbacks from Wonka's childhood and his story of why he lives the way he does now. We understand him more than we did in the 1971 adaptation.
Now lets get down to it. Is Johnny Depp a better Willy Wonka than Gene Wilder? Take a seat. I'd guess those die hard Dahl fans will say 'yes', going by those I heard on the way from the cinema to the car anyway. Personally, Gene Wilder is much more of a comfort to watch because his fun and joy for the world is shown much more humanely. His hobbled entrance to the film was such a great example of his playfulness. We can relate to Wilder's Wonka much more...but maybe we're not supposed to. We have to take on board Wonka has been self-isolated the majority of his life, lives in a chocolate factory alone with a number of Umpa Lumpas and as a result of this, how can he be like the rest of society and how can we ever think for a second he's like us???
There is one problem I had with this film and that was the new Umpa Lumpa songs. My god they got on my tits. It just didn't fit in the tone of the film at all. They were far too Modern Pop; the song in the squirrel scene was almost...Backstreet Boyish. Danny Elfman is the master, and achieves this title by his atmospheric soundtrack. He's a complimentary to fairy tales. He hit it on the nail with the actual Willy Wonka song which is featured during Wonka's entrance and the first trailer for the film. So why the hell couldn't he carried on hitting that nail all the way down with the Umpa Lumpa songs?
I really should read the book though.