I forgot that I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before and rewatched it last week. I saw Tim Burton’s adaptation of the book, which I have never read, before seeing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and I still preferred the latter. It is a no brainer: Gene Wilder with both arms tied behind his back will beat the more attractive and quirky Johnny Depp any day, but having the once great Tim Burton direct anything lately is always a handicap. Best analogy: John Carpenter vs. Rob Zombie’s Halloween. One does not offer any psychological explanations, but is more chilling and visceral. The other does offer trite psychological explanations and has more modern film touches, but seems to lose a certain supernatural/magical quality in the process. Fun facts: if you try to share this movie using imdb, it shows as “Kalle och chokladfabriken;” Freddie Highmore was the kid, and it is at least his first time appearing with Helena Bonham Carter in a film (Toast). It may not have been the filmmakers’ intention, but I still felt like this Willy Wonka was modeled after Michael Jackson: drawn to children, but not necessarily good for them; odd effort towards a perfect appearance that makes him seem more alien (after two viewings, I realized that he must have ruined his teeth, just said screw it and got veneers as a rebuke to his childhood trauma); and not truly understanding concept of or why anyone would want a family based on his childhood experiences. Willy Wonka may seem dated to some, but the music sequences in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory already seem stale to me.