Maybe it depends on when you first read the book and/or saw the movies. I grew up reading and loving the book. I saw the Wilder movie as an adult when its look was already very dated and it fell totally flat. I saw the Burton movie when it came out and thought it was good but not great.
But it really really really irks me for some reason when people talk about the Burton movie as a “remake”, as if the book doesn’t exist at all and the first movie sprang into existence sui generis.
No, but I’ve seen the video where he rips off…uh…*pays homage to * the boatride scene. (Manson’s a poser, anyway.)
<shrug> That’s actually what I was talking about–the boatride scene.
To each his own, I guess. I like some of his stuff.
I was completely baffled by the casting of Deep Roy for the oompa-loompa(s). Looking at imdb based on his prior roles, it seems it was simply a pet-casting role of Tim Burton. I thought the actor was a complete failure in that role.
I prefer the Futurama version myself.
I felt the 1971 version was far better than the 2005 version. I thought Wilder’s portrayal of Wonka as a cunning adult was better than Depp’s portrayal of Wonka as a lost child.
I’m surprised by those who thought the 1971 version was too sweet. The whole point of the movie was that it was barely sweet at all - the whole point was that Wonka projected a false facade of sweetness over a deeply cynical personality. Wonka smiled while doing horrible things to see if people saw past the smile.
The only sweet part about the movie was the very ending. That’s where it was revealed that Wonka’s horrible personality was as false as his surface amiability. Both were put on as a test and Charlie’s ability to get past both of them was why he won the test.
Depp’s Wonka had no such depths. He was all surface. What was the big reveal of the 2005 movie? Families are nice. That’s a hundred times more saccharine than anything in the 1971 movie.
Did they leave in Mike’s line: “How come they never show stuff like that on TV?” Because it might have been meta-humor instead of censorship.
Interesting thread. I thought the original was bizarre and creepy with no memorable music. I mean, the freaky boat ride with the bizarre images on the wall? What the hell was that? The remake was much more interesting with much better music. And Depp was a riot. Weird that people seem so split on this. To me it’s not even close.
Opinion may be split on whch film was better but you may well be the only person to ever claim that the original had “no memorable music”, given how well known the “Oompa Loompa doopity doo” riff is.