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Gene Wilder, the kid who played Charlie and the actor who played Grandpa Joe in the 70's version made the movie work. Charlie and Grandpa's chemistry gave it a heart, while Gene Wilder gave us an entertaining, snarky, smirking, sometimes vicious Willy Wonka.
The new version lacked both of those elements. I believe that Tim Burton, who has done great work, was far too focused on "his vision" of maintaining nearly every core of Dahl's book, and didn't spend enough time developing his characters in the script. Also, I think he was hoping that Depp would knock it out of the park and carry the viewers through to the end with a massively entertaining performance, which, unfortunately, isn't what happened.
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