So I just saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help but compare it all the way through to the original. I knew there would be differences in interpretation, acting, direction, storyline, and a major improvement in special effects. I could appreciate a lot of the decisions made in the newer movie, and if I hadn't seen the original, I think I would have liked it quite a bit more than I did.

However, I have to admit that I liked the feeling of the original better. There was more innocence to it, both in Charlie's and Willy Wonka's characters. I can't tell if it was because Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka seemed more whimsical and understanding of childrens' point of view, rather than a chocolate fiend and a product of a repressive upbringing working out the traumas of his childhood, or because there seemed to be more of a reason for Willy to choose Charlie over all the other children other than just because he was the only one not to have his own personal Oompa Loompa song.

I have the original on DVD if you want to borrow it for comparison purposes. I know it's kind of weird in places. In fact, Gene Wilder freaked me out so much the first time I saw it at 8 years old that it was several years before I saw it again.

In any case, I kind of have a movie buddy now. This is a good development.