Johnny Depp teams up once more with both director Tim Burton and rising co-star Freddie Highmore in the remake of the original classic, Willy Wonka. Burton directs this film beautifully as he keeps in tact the original storyline but as expected, adds his own creativity to spice things up.

I had my doubts about this movie, and boy was I right. As almost every comedy Hollywood puts out, all the funny moments were shown in the trailer. It's a shame that this movie wasn't nearly as fun as the original. Depp's portrayal of Willy Wonka was very peculiar. The one-liners he spat out were more annoying at times than amusing, which left me with an expression of only seeing the Oompa-Loompas could describe. Which brings me to the little bastards. I despised the Oompa-Loompas. In the original, they were cute mythical fairy-tale like people who sang songs and took direct orders from Wonka.

This time Burton gives them a fairly odd background and turns them into not so fairy-tale but annoying as hell. Was it the fact they were all portrayed by Deep Roy? Or was it because they didn't have green hair? What really disappointed me but disgusted me even more was the absence of the Oompa-Loompa song! I know this was a remake and not everything
needs to be redone, but come on! That was classic stuff! It was replaced sadly by some of the most horrible dance songs I have heard in my life. No offense to Deep Roy, but your Oompa-Loompas were just disturbing. The removal of the original songs now replaced by garbage tunes really took away from the films tone. The original movie had a constant silly comedic tone throughout it. This version is nothing like the movie. Burton makes it flow from
funny to weird, to silly, to serious. Perhaps this was his ploy to capture the spirit and imagination of the audience but it did not work too well. Come to think of it, the dialogue in this film was really lacking in depth. I believe Deep Roy had the most lines!

Gene Wilder vs. Johnny Depp: Wilder's Willy Wonka not only sang and danced about but he was quite stern. His lines were more entertaining and magical as he stole the spotlight. He had good presence which even the spoiled children seemed to enjoy. Wilder's songs will forever remain favorites and enjoyable to watch over and over again. Johnny Depp's Wonka was immensely odd. His overall look tried to remain true to the original (such as the overcoat and top hat with cane) but his weird take on the character seemed to diminish his spotlight. The cheesy one liners weren't very amusing at all and the adapted background of being a son of a dentist proved to be a boring drag. The hat goes off to you, Mr. Wilder.

Peter Ostrum vs. Freddie Highmore: The original Charlie, played by Peter Ostrum was too cute to be poor. He wore a red sweater for Christ sakes! He surely was in it for the sake of winning the prize. Screw Grandpa! The chocolate was his for the taking. Had Willy declined Charlie's request for his family to move in with them, Charlie would have gone anyway.  Freddie Highmore's Charlie was a lot more noble and humble. He stuck by his family like glue and shared his candy even though it was his birthday present. He wore rags as clothes and slept under a huge gaping hole in the roof which snow caved in! This is the type of character to root and feel compassion for. The Wonka top hat goes off to you Mr. Highmore.

Original children vs. New children: The original kids were less bratty but still spoiled in every way possible. In the re-incarnation, the new kids were similar as they got into just as much trouble as the originals, yet they were more shockingly spoiled and more funny to watch. I tip the Wonka top hat to the newbies. Original Factory vs. New Factory: The original factory was amazing for it's time (1971). Simply spectacular, it was full of oooh's and ahs which made you wish you had Wonka-Vision so you could reach into the TV set and pull out some of those chocolate mushrooms. The new set was also dazzling and reminiscent to the original version. Although the great props made it a beautiful sight, the candy room was only on screen for a short amount of time, unlike the original where a majority of scenes and dance songs were performed in the candy room. The hat goes off to the original factory. YUM!

Original Buckets vs. New Buckets: The original Buckets felt more like middle class. Charlie and Grandpa seemed to be more high spirited for what a poor family should be. The new family was much more amusing and displayed better family values and love. The lived in an old run down shack that tilted sideways! The ate cabbage soup for dinner and smelled like old people and soap. Everybody lay around on a big bed or in chairs all day and seemed to conserve their energy. I must say, the new Buckets were a lot more realistic and believable, so therefore I tip my Wonka hat off to them. Original Oompa-Loompas vs Deep Roy's Oompa-Loompas: Those original Oompa-Loompas were a cast of many midgets.

They all had brightly colored green hair and wore funny colored red suits. They eerily reminded me of the munchkins from "The Wizard of Oz". I loved singing along to the Oompa-Loompa song which they all featured deep baritone voices. That was my favorite part of Willy Wonka! The newbies, all portrayed by Deep Roy, were quite disappointing. No green hair and no Oooma-Loompa song! What's with the different voices? That didn't make sense certainly if they all looked the same. These Oompa-Loompas lived in a jungle, ate smashed caterpillars and cocoa beans before being found by Willy, who then took them to his factory to work for unlimited amounts of cocoa beans. The newbies didn't have the cuteness, nor did they have cool songs. I found them to be disturbing and the songs were just repulsive. Horrible, just horrible. Hey, original Oompas! I tip thee Wonka hat off to you my green haired friends!

Summing Up: Gene Wilder has always been a favorite actor of mine, but so has Johnny Depp. I enjoyed Wilder singing "Pure Imagination" as well as other short songs. Depp did not sing but instead gave us a quirky take on the Wonka character. The story of the original did not need a background for it to be entertaining. It had a great Chocolate Factory, fantastic dialogue and songs, magical storytelling and memorable Oompa-Loompas. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory offered better children who acted spoiled like spoiled brats like they should be, but Charlie provided a less than stellar adaptation of the story. The jokes were forced which gave the characters both an odd and annoying feeling. The original was a magic in the making classic, while the so called remake (or reincarnation as I call it) falls short of being magical.

Despite the annoyances from the wretched Oompa-Loompa's, cheesy dialogue, and overall weirdness, Burton doesn't fail in giving the audience a family based film that has some heartfelt moments which eventually by the conclusion puts a smile on your face and a warm fuzzy feeling all over. I tip my hat off to the original Willy Wonka movie,
just because remakes can never beat the original movies.

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