Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Rating: 
I’m just not sure what to think about this movie. It was very much the same and yet vastly different from the 1971 Gene Wilder version. I think I’m going to have to read the book (which I did in the 7th grade for a play, but seem to remember nothing about it) to see which one is closer.
Others have written wonderful and detailed reviews, so I’m not even going to attempt it. If you’ve seen the 1971 version (who HASN’T!?) then you might be shocked by the following changes:
- Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka is nothing like Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka. Absolutely nothing. I can’t really say which I prefer since they both played the characters so very differently. They definitely both played their parts well. I do admire Johnny Depp for delving into his character a bit more.
- Willy Wonka has a bit of a back story. We find out why he’s in love with candy and why he doesn’t really care for children or families.
- Oompa Loompas also have a back story and you can tell they’re much more involved in running the factory. In the 1971 version, Willy was obviously in charge of the Oompa Loompas and the factory. In this story, it almost seems as if the Oompa Loompas are taking care of the factory so Willy can have fun, play around and invent new stuff without having to worry about what it actually takes to run a factory.
- Scary and unrealistic looking Oompa Loompas. They all have the same face. It is very, painfully apparent that there were special effects involved to do this. I thought the oompa loompa heads looked very cut-and-pasted.
There are definitely more changes, one other huge one in particular that I won’t go into.
I’m still not sure how I feel about this movie. All the individual parts - scenery, acting, directing, music, etc - were wonderful in and of themselves. Putting them all together though.. something just didn’t seem right about it all. I think it was a lot closer to the 1971 movie than I was expecting and therefore I felt bored through most of it.
