Childhood memories this ain't

Rating: 4/10 (28 July 2005)

When I was 8 years old, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory was my favourite movie. I'd watch it every day if I could. I didn't see it again until recently (I'm now 22), but even before I watched it, I was humming along with the songs I suddenly remembered again, and I grinned almost the whole way through when I did watch it. That movie is still a part of my childhood. Unfortunately, I don't see any 8 year old now grinning at the memory of this one in 14 years.
I know it's a new director, new script, new everything, and I expected it to be totally different, but it just did nothing for me. The factory is supposed to be a place of wonder and childhood dreams, but it looked more like the set of Nightmare Before Christmas done in sweets. Even in the novel there was a pause to look at something before each child left, but in this, it's just, go to a room, lose a kid, go to another room, lose another kid, until only one was left.
The kids did what they could with their roles, and the grandparents were pretty good, but Willy Wonka was just a little TOO weird for my taste. He was supposed to be eccentric, not they kind of guy parents drag away from their kids when they offer them a sweet! That's nothing against Johnny Depp, because he's a good actor, I just didn't like his version of Willy Wonka.
As for the Oompa Loompas, I wanted to shoot them every time they came on screen. It was well done, considering there was only one guy, but I couldn't stand them.
Tim Burton added his own unmistakable style to a very odd novel, which many people would like, and I know why. The first movie was all sweetness and colour and charm, which some people hated, and Tim Burton's version certainly has none of that. For those, this will be a far better version, more faithful to the novel in some ways (I liked the inclusion of the scene where Charlie, Grandpa Joe and Willy Wonka see the others leave the factory), but for me, this was just not up to scratch.