Saw "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" last night. Here are my thoughts, beware of spoilers.

A bit of back story: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is, in my opinion, genius. I keep it in the category of most favorite non-drama film. I absolutely love every element about it and keep it in the "perfect" category: those films that you couldn't add anything to or subtract anything from.

I'll refer to the remake as "Charlie" and the original as "Willy".

"Charlie" was, what would seem to be the most ideal fit ever for Tim Burton. The over-the-top fantasy of the concept, the inherent darkness of the story, the mix of universal appeal and sly subversion. I found myself really liking the first act, then liking it less as it went on. Here's why. The opening and introduction of the nameless city where Charlie and his family live were fantastic. Charlie was perfectly cast, as were his parents and grandparents. Found it a little odd that he slept 12 inches from an open hole in the ceiling during a snowy winter, but maybe that was one of those "true to the book" elements that they are so happy about with this new version. Never read the book. The flashback sequences that give insight into Wonka were great. The introductions of all the golden ticket winners, I really liked as well. The production design was wonderful, everything I'd hoped for. Right up until Wonka opens his factory doors, I had the feeling that Burton had really done it, made a film that was truly worthy of being judged with the original, while adding a fresh take and added scope to the story. Well, that feeling gave way to a chilly uncomfortable feeling once Johnny Depp's Wonka took over.

Wonka in "Charlie" is a weird man-child, a victim of seclusion and arrested development. Makes sense why Depp is getting all the Michael Jackson comparisons. He giggles, snaps, is immature, easily provoked, and obviously doesn't like any of the children or their parents. I actually got a kick out of how devious and perverse he was. After a while, I really sensed some things were sadly lacking. It began with the chocolate room. If one scene came to mind when I first heard Tim Burton's name associated with the new movie, it was this scene. The fantastic, completely edible, man-made landscape within the factory walls that first creates the idea of Wonka's genius in "Willy". This was the first letdown. Nothing in the room seemed edible, let alone delicious. The grey of the factory walls were imposing, and it seemed Burton went right into showing the children and parents as monsters with red liquid smeared all over their faces instead of letting the first experience into the room be pleasant and wonderous. Augustus is sucked up the tube from the chocolate river, and the first of the completely wrong parent reactions began. The mother didn't seem to care, she was pretty damn cool and reserved to see her tubby little offspring turn into a giant intestinal blockage. It seemed the fate of the first child was inevitable, no surprise at all. Yeah, that was probably because I knew just what was going to happen, or because Burton never let the factory be a place of wonder for a second before he began picking off the brats one-by-one.

As they met their fates, the parents didn't seem to react, assist, or even bat an eye, and that bugged me. If the parents aren't fighting Wonka as their brats are being sucked up tubes, etc., then Wonka's creepy ambivalence doesn't have much impact. I never saw the direct connection of the parents' character defects and their children's' bad personalities, either.

Also didn't dig the chocolate factory being this super CG, infinite, completely impossible space. I prefer "Willy's" sense of the chocolate factory being somewhat plausible ...if improbable.

Wonka just got more and more two dimensional as the movie wore on. Hard to imagine him as a genius, or as a master puppeteer of this whole shebang, after a while he just seemed creepy. Just creepy. Wilder's Wonka was SO much better, facts are facts. He seemed wildly creative, demanding, single-minded in his vision, brilliant, cold, self-centered, but somehow also warm and compassionate.

So even with the last minute humanizing of Wonka in the new version, and the sudden growth of a heart in the story line, I left feeling that I had watched a good movie, but wasn't especially emotionally attached to it. Nice wrapping, but kind of an empty aftertaste.