Well done, but not that original

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2005)

I had the idea of watching first the original movie and then this one. The script is almost identical, except for the last few minutes. The effects are a lot better, of course, but the movie did not remove the things that annoyed me in the first 1971 movie, nor did it make me feel more than the original.
Wilder was creepy in the role of Willie Wonka, but Depp, even if he played marvelously, was only a bit weird, in the harmless way. Both the original movie and this one portraits parents that are rather passive to what happens to their children. I hated the songs in both versions. The good things are related to the quality of the visuals, of course. The end (different in the sense that the concept of family is held high like a banner in the forefront of the battle for our children souls. What, did I overdramatise? So did this movie) did nothing for me.
Now, that I read my own review, I realize that I liked the original better. It felt out of time and kinda low budget, but it was better in the emotional sense and the storyline.
It is essentially a children's story. Maybe I am not the one qualified to comment on it, then.