Went to see this with Ms. Jessica (#2) on her birthday, and I must say I was a bit disappointed.

The first thing I notice is Charlie. He isn’t the bright little blonde-haired blue-eyed kid from the original, but a more scraggly and not nearly as energetic or entertaining dair-haired kid.

The second thing I notice is Charlie’s Mom. She looks a hell of a lot like Johnny Depp; weird.

The third thing that bugs me out is the Oompah Loompahs! This is a huge letdown. They don’t sing the original songs, instead they sing some whacked out/cracked out annoying crap. Even worse than the songs is the fact that there is only one Oompah Loompah who is just multiplied a thousand times. Also, HE IS INDIAN AND WEARS STUPID SUITS. OOMPAH LOOMPAHS ARE ORANGE, HAVE GREEN HAIR, WEAR WHITE OVERALLS AND THAT’S THAT. ARGH!

The fourth thing that bugs me is the use of CGI. What made the original so great was all that was left to the imagination. You didn’t ever get to see Loompah land so you were left making pictures in your mind. You didn’t get to see all these winding tunnels and such on the boat ride, so you were left wondering if they were in some sort of space rift or just moving really fast. Sometimes, less is more, especially with a psychadelic sort of movie.

The fifth thing that bugged me was the guy and his daughter sitting next to me. The guy spoke very broken English, had obviously never seen the original, but felt the need to complete sentences, predict what was going to happen, and have bad breath. Bummer!

[b]7.0/10[/b] – hard to top the original, not quite sure why Burton tried