Fun Movie, But Still Not As Good as Wilder

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2005)

I saw the movie this weekend and really, really enjoyed it. Burton achieves so much more visually and with the script than the earlier version. However, I came away favoring the Gene Wilder version over the Johnny Depp version.
Primarily, it was because with the Gene Wilder version, you could tell that everything that happened with the children and their parents was known to Wonka. It was a if every single event and utterance had been pre-scripted by Wonka and the visitors were merely acting out their assigned roles--even if they were unaware that they had been assigned parts. Wonka was a bit snide, more than a bit pixie-ish; he was displaying all these wonderful toys, events, and observations and was just *hoping* that someone would notice. But, of course, no one did because they were too greedy and too preoccupied with stealing the secret for Slugworth. Everyone, that is, except Charlie and Grandpa Joe...And we soon learn that Wonka (the Gene Wilder one) knew that Charlie would be the winner and, in fact, planned it that way up to and including the final test.
Johnny Depp's character, however, was simply neurotic. He didn't know of the children (Gene Wilder knew all about them). Depp's character was lost in his own factory, surprised when one of the children acted up, was childishly enraptured with the Oompa Loompa songs, and seemed startled to discover that--suddenly--Charlie was the only survivor. Furthermore, he was genuinely shocked when Charlie valued family over candy. His repeated "interactions" with the glass elevator didn't help at all.
Additionally, the movie seemed forced to super speed. The kids were hardly in the place before they started being eliminated. We really got to know and despise the kids in the older movie...here, they almost seemed as afterthoughts. It is true that the older movie seemed to take about 2.5 hours just to GET to the factory, but it made the elimination of the kids all the more pleasant.
And the Oompa Loompas? Great concept. However, I have no idea what they were singing during their songs. Loud, raucous, grating rock-and-roll presented at hyperspeed? Danny Elfman is a master, but that was a poor, poor choice of presentation. I'd almost rather have not had any musical interludes at all.
On the plus side (and there were plenty). I loved the Wonkitania boat (although I loved the older boat ride...much creepier than this one was exciting), loved the squirrels, the Oompa Loompas, Charlie's relationship to his family. The chocolate room was lush (although brief, brief, brief compared to the older movie), the children and parents were absolutely delightful and spot-on with their portrayals (we just didn't have much time to get to know and hate them), and the backstory about Willy and his dad was a nice addition.
So...it was not (in my opinion) a bad movie. By itself, there's nothing to not like (except maybe the Oompa songs). But when compared to the older movie...well...I'm pretty sure that any of my return visits to Wonkaland will have Gene Wilder as my host.