Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 4K UHD (1971)

[KcMsterpce]

I have never met a person that has mentioned Burton's version as anything more than an awful, ugly, grating, and/or obnoxious disaster. I would wager a couple dozen people have discussed it at one time or another, people (at pubs I hung out at while talking movies when I was in Korea) from the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Korea, Belgium, Ireland, GB, New Zealand, and Australia.
But, maybe a large swath of people enjoy it outside of those that I have spoken to who represent those geographic locations. *shrug*

[dallywhitty]

Burton's version is great.

[TheDeadlySquid76]

Burton's version is better, bar none. Maybe I have bias because I grew up with it but it's much more imaginative and thematically deeper than the original, plus it's more accurate to the book (which I normally don't care about with adaptations, fyi, but it's a nice touch). Far from an "awful, ugly, grating, and/or obnoxious disaster".

[BluAsa97]

Burton version squad too here. I just love it so much, and it is the one I grew up with

[KcMsterpce]

It would be cool to meet any of y'all in person, so then I could retract my previous comment and state that "I have met a few that love it".

[ThulsaMike88]

The mystique/mysteriousness of Gene Wilder's Wonka is what has made that movie for me for so many years. I can rewatch it over and over and never get bored of it, and I always catch some new face expression or nuance of his performance. Is it all performance? Is he really a little crazy? There's just a level of disturbing unease about him and his operation that intrigues me.

While I appreciate Burton and love Johnny Depp, he just isn't on the same level portraying Wonka as Gene, for me at least.

Edit: All of the "I grew up with Burton's version" is making me feel old.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by ThulsaMike88

The mystique/mysteriousness of Gene Wilder's Wonka is what has made that movie for me for so many years. I can rewatch it over and over and never get bored of it, and I always catch some new face expression or nuance of his performance. Is it all performance? Is he really a little crazy? There's just a level of disturbing unease about him and his operation that intrigues me.

While I appreciate Burton and love Johnny Depp, he just isn't on the same level portraying Wonka as Gene, for me at least.

Edit: All of the "I grew up with Burton's version" is making me feel old.

Gene Wilder's version of Wonka is top notch. Depp seems more like a zany cartoon character while Gene had a subtle sense of unbalanced menace behind the charm of a reclusive candy maker who brings the world joy... kind of like the unsettling thought of will he shake your hand in greeting or chop it off with an axe??



Sure the Burton film has song poems directly from the book with updated music, but everything else seems more glossy and artificial. There are different songs in the original film adaptation, but there are memorable musical standouts that far surpass anything in the book.

[RCRochester]

The Tim Burton version just seemed so charmless to me, and I could never figure out what they did to the actor who played Augustus Gloop to make him look like some sort of CGI uncanny valley abomination, and why.

[Vulture Lives]

I'm okay with the Burton movie, but movies and books are two different mediums. Sometimes what works in a book doesn't necessarily work in a movie. Sure, the Burton movie has book accurate Oompa Loompa lyrics, but so what? The Oompa Loompa songs are way better in the Wilder movie. It's no contest. I also prefer Veruca with the golden eggs (and her awesome musical number) to the squirrels. Faithfulness to the book be damned. And the Burton movie also deviates significantly from the book in its own right - the entire subplot involving Wonka's childhood and Wonka's father is not found in the book at all.

[Krynoid-Man]

I grew up with both of them so I like both (and I never read the book so I don't really care which is more accurate TBH), but I prefer the Wilder version because I saw it first so that's the one I think of more often. I haven't seen either of them in years though, so I'd quite like both on 4K as an excuse to watch them again.

[Resettito]

I love Gene but Tim Burton's version is brilliant. It's not for everyone but it's so unmistakably his, JD is just as brilliant, it's a ton of fun, magical, Freddie Highmore is PERFECT casting as well as Charlie, David Kelly as Grandpa Joe is perfect, Christopher Lee, Helena Bonham Carter, and so on.

The production design is outrageous in a great way, etc.

[Resettito]

Originally Posted by IPreferPi

Given that Johnny Depp's star power isn't what it used to be, this is a suspect claim.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an amusing adaptation on its own right, but it certainly doesn't have the generations of fans that grew up with and still revere the OG Willy Wonka.

Johnny is incredibly popular. Anyone who's paid attention to the latest developments would know that.

[Martoto]

I can't remember if Wonka's father being a dentist and all that stuff was in the book. I remember reading it around the same time I saw the original. I just remember thinking the Wonkavator in the movie didn't live up to the description in the book.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

The Tim Burton version just seemed so charmless to me, and I could never figure out what they did to the actor who played Augustus Gloop to make him look like some sort of CGI uncanny valley abomination, and why.

It was terrible. But at least we got to see what it would be like with "Michael Jackson" as Willy Wonka.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

It was terrible. But at least we got to see what it would be like with "Michael Jackson" as Willy Wonka.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Martoto

I can't remember if Wonka's father being a dentist and all that stuff was in the book.

Nope. It's a complete invention of the movie.

[moviebuff75]

I think the scene with the missing word has always been wrong on home video. She originally yelled WAIT! as they were rounding the table. The vhs used a three track remix WB did in the mid 1980s. They put the line at the end of the song. Cable versions in the early 1980s were the last time the mono track was utilized. BTW, you can hear where the line was on the blu-ray because there is a drop out in the track at that spot. I wish WB would include the original track. But, who am I kidding.

[flyry]

[Freakyguy666]

Couldn’t get over Burtons cgi duplicates of a single Oompa Loompa. It was so poorly done and especially next to the Wilder version where everything is practical—including the actors!—it pales in comparison.

[Hardback247]

Basically, both adaptations have their own positives and negatives.