Charlie, Willy and Chocolate Factory

First actual post will be a review. Comparison and review of these two movies:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - 1971, directed by Mel Stuart

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 2005, directed by Tim Burton

I watched both lately with my partner. It was the first time for me to watch the old version. Burton's one I saw years ago and I do like Burton as a director, at least in most of his movies.

I don't necessarily follow the exact structure of things, so forgive me if my review is not written in a way it should be. 

STORY

The same story in both movies with not many differences. At least when it comes to main idea of poor boy dreaming of visiting Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and having it happening. He shows up with his also poor, but old and cheerful grandpa next to bunch of other kids with their parents. Willy shows them around and you see most of the kids falling into a trap of their - as I call it - problems. This eliminates them from the "game". The reward for being the least greedy, screwed up kid is SPOILER? taking over the whole factory. As you can expect, Charlie is the one to win. ENDOFSPOILER

Old version focuses a lot on showing how wanted and rare the golden tickets to the factory are. New version does the same, but with less push on how the poor Charlie gets so sad and miserable whenever another kids find next tickets. Because of some reason, Mel really wanted to point out how extremely important it is to the boy (and his grandpa), at the same time not really showing why. Of course we generally know why - everyone wants to visit the factory and meet Willy Wonka, but it seems like Charlie thinks he deserves it more than anyone else. Because he's poor? Because he loves his family and chocolate so much? Tim at least showed some history behind it. Grandpa was a former worker in the factory and admired Willy and his chocolate. You can also see Charlie building a small replica of the factory out of toothpaste caps, before all the madness started. You can feel that Charlie has been devoted to his vision of the factory and Willy Wonka for a while.
Mel basically puts less attention to the story behind things. Plot is very straight forward, so is the ending. We have a little bit of tension (conflict) that releases very quickly and everything ends SPOILER very happily ENDOFSPOILER. This was a little bit confusing to me, especially that you see within 2 minutes extreme emotions, when the last one makes you feel like there has been a bond between two main characters. Bond that you haven't seen throughtout the whole movie. 

Meanwhile Tim puts flashbacks and there is more storyTELLING in it, including narration. I am not a big fan of narration, but I accept it when it is not too much of it. Even though the idea is still pretty simple, you feel like you know the characters more, therefore you might like (or dislike) them more. Ending has also more to it - longer and more interesting resolution.

CHARLIE

I really don't know why but the boy hired to be 1971 Charlie is American. American looking with American accent acting British poor little fellow. Something was not right. It wasn't right the way he was but also how miserable he was made to be in moments between "some kid found the golden ticket". He did the acting bit as well as he could, but I just don't think he was a good fit.

2005 Charlie was a bit better. They hired British boy, and as much as I am not a fan of this actor - he is kind of like Harry Potter. You can accept his way of acting when he is so little. Later it feels weird. Modern Charlie was also more believable and less annoying.

WILLY

Gene Wilder as Willy did a great job in my opinion. The way this character was written to be was also very thought through. I think he is the strongest thing in the movie. Little weird and crazy, but in a likeable way. He got a lot of witty and funny lines, that made you like him even more. Unfortunately, I felt like 90% of funny bits in the movie was thanks to him. I would like to see more of the situational humour to which other characters can contribute more.

Johnny Depp was typical character taken straight from Tim Burton's vision. Very over the top and so weird that you are not sure if he is entirely human. I didn't mind it only because he fits to the scenery and theme of the movie very well. It is not set exactly how Willy should be like and two directors did it in two different ways, where none is my favorite, however I feel more appreciative to Gene's acting. In my opinion it is harder to be witty crazy rather than weird crazy.

Burton also used scenes with young Willy showing a bit of his story. I find it a good move, but I had no feelings towards young Willy. I neither liked or disliked him.

SCENERY

Obviously, in 70s the resources and techniques were limited. You can see they tried, but the effects are not the greatest. Especially considering how much the movie makes you hyped for seeing this factory. It can be a disappointment. It didn't throw me off though. I can adjust my mind to the times the film was made. The big plus is the atmosphere though. Good ol' 70s times, when films and music felt so good to watch/listen.

Computer techniques once used, they usually give a good-to-look-at effect, especially in fantasy world. One condition - must be operated and supervised by competent people. I don't doubt they were while making the 2005 version, but sometimes it went over the top, this time in a bad way. It can be same disturbing as looking at someone photoshoping their selfie too much. Few scenes with kids involved were like that and it didn't look right. The factory itself looked way more interesting than in 1971 version. More colorful, chocolate fountain resembled chocolate more, any machinery and crazy equipment looked appealing and interestingly complex plus the reference to "2001: A Space Odyssey" makes you feel like "oh! it's 2001 reference! oh! (I'm so smart I got it)" once you notice it in a scene with TV room.

OTHER CHARACTERS and OTHER THINGS

Singing Umpa Lumpas were in both directors' visions, but Mel made the whole film more of a musical. It didn't bother me, I just swallowed it with other ingridients.

Umpa Lumpas themselves were funny and adorable element in both. Not just because of singing, but because of their size and how hard-working they were. However in this case I also tip my hat to Tim, whose Umpa Lumpas were way more amusing: they looked exactly the same, were even tinier than dwarves, so well synchronised (even if it is achieved through copy-pasting), they were funny in a lot of ways and you know their story more since you get to see the flashback of their original place of living.

Grandpa Joe in old version is a "strong" character as well. He is the type of old man you feel really warm when thinking about. It feels like he is a perfect grandpa - will always look after you, but you won't get bored with him either. 2005 grandpa Joe is not by far any worse. I would say you might feel even stronger about him when you know his story. He seems to be a good person, but the movie doesn't really show you much of his humours side if he has one.

It might look like I very much favour Tim Burton's version and indeed, I think I like it slightly more. Old version though, is still very good in its own way. It gave me the comfortable feeling while watching it and it still did a great work entertaining me. The most important character (Willy) was written perfectly and even if it's thanks to him why the movie is good, I don't mind that much.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 1971 - 7/10

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005 - 8/10