I was sitting in my dorm the other day thinking of what movies I could look at next and was ashamed of myself for not thinking of this one first. I’m pretty sure that watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was an integral part of a lot of people’s childhoods. I remember I was so excited when I heard that they were remaking it and calling it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Similar to most things, nothing can really beat the original, but that doesn’t mean that the second movie was horrible.
Gene Wilder
Johnny Depp
A lot of people weren’t impressed by the remake of the classic movie when it was released in 2005. Quite frankly, I thought that Johnny Depp made Willy Wonka more of a creep than Gene Wilder did, but other than the creep factor I’d say that they were both pretty good. The music from both of the movies is extremely catchy, well at least in my opinion. I also like how the same story line was there, but the newer one seemed to be more modern and was its own in a way. Both movies did a great job at getting the audience to hate the other kids. Giving them each a background story established them and made the audience not like them.
I guess the biggest differences were who was casted and the presence of Charlie’s father. The original had Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, whereas in the 2005 version it was Johnny Depp. I think they both did a good job portraying the role, despite the fact that Depp added a pedophile affect to the role. I think compared to the original the biggest difference with the casts is that the cast from the newer movie has some more fame. It seems to me that most of the cast in the original, besides Gene Wilder, were one hit wonders as actors. And with the newer movie, there were a lot of well-known actors in it. For example, there was Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Freddie Highmore, and Christopher Lee. (Fun fact- Freddie Highmore is going to be in a new show called Bates Motel, staring as a young Norman Bates from Psycho, sorry I’m excited) The only big difference I saw between the movies was the presence of Charlie’s dad. I think with him not being there in the original it creates more of an empathetic stance towards Charlie. And with the new one it shows his dad as being the main bread-winner and his mom staying home. That really was the biggest difference in the plot.
One area where both of the movies could be better is in the fact that there are some parts that are flat out scary. For instance, in Willy Wonka the scene where they are going through the tunnel and Wonka is saying all of this random stuff freaked me out when I was younger. Actually it still scares me a bit. Also its creepy that you never see what happens to the kids. I mean, that is sticking to the beliefs of Roald Dahl where he believes that bad kids get punished, but it’s also mildly disturbing because it’s kids that are disappearing. And for the newer version, the part where Veruca Salt is attacked by the squirrels is also kind of freaky. But other than those scenes the movies are pretty child friendly.
In all, they are both pretty good movies. They are each unique in their own ways. If you haven’t watched either of them or read the book you definitely need to do so. It will be worth your time! 😀
Here is the clip of the creepy boat ride
and also one of the best scenes from the movie
and a clip from the newer movie