better than the original

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2007)

I have always thought to myself when first seeing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), "This movie would be so much better if it were not a musical." I was instantly intrigued by the movie's storyline and have always thought that the character of Willy Wonka was much darker than he was portrayed. The musical portion of the movie, however, weakened its position on my favorite movies list. I became overjoyed when I heard Tim Burton had signed on to direct the remake and that Johnny Depp would play Willy Wonka because now I knew the dark aspect of the film I had been searching for would finally be brought to life due to Burton's and Depp's collaborations on dark movies in the past. I never realized how much the original movie had changed from Roald Dahl's classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory until I saw the remake, which adhered to the book's plot more rigorously. I probably should have read the book before seeing the remake, but the movie seemed to be a sort of "visual book" in itself (and it wasn't a musical). I was especially intrigued by Depp's portrayal of Willy Wonka because on the outside he seemed like a quirky, childish weird man, but as the plot progressed, he became darker and more twisted as flashbacks of his childhood revealed he had no family. Burton perfectly showed enough subtle hints throughout the movie to indicate that Willy Wonka may actually be causing the bad things to happen to the children, mostly through little smirks and expressions he would make upon the "accidents." The dark aspect and the fact it wasn't a musical made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) one of the few exceptions where the remake is better than the original.