The kid in me is having a great weekend. I just spent an hour and a half at my local bookstore patiently waiting for my copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. J.K. Rowling has managed to jump start my imagination in a way I don't recall since I was a child. I haven't done more than crack the cover since I purchased the book over 2 hours ago but it's clearly all thats on my mind. The whole phenomenon brings me back to being a child. Maybe 5 years old. I never knew who Gene Wilder was, but I knew who Willy Wonka was. I'd dream of slowly unwrapping a bar of chocolate bar and catching the shimmer of gold. I'd pretend my Pepsi was a fizzy lifting drink, but sadly I never made it far off the ground.

So when I first heard they were gonna do it again I was skeptical. How do you rewrite Shakespear or repaint the Sistine Chapel. Perhaps these are extreme comparisons but when I was a child, how well it held up to Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory was how I rated a film. I had a handful of VHS tapes as a child and Willy Wonka was in my VCR daily. I haven't seen it in a few years and could probably still go the whole movie line by line without reference. So what's the word, you ask? Does it float or sink? Luckily for the new generation and the old, it's the best remake that isn't a remake I've ever seen.

For those unaware, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was published in 1964 by Roald Dahl. It's the tale of Charlie Bucket, a young boy of genuine heart trapped in poverty with his large family. His grandparents are bed ridden and his mother is a homemaker. His father works a minimum wage job in a toothpaste factory, screwing tops on the tubes and barely making enough to feed his large family cabbage soup. When it seems the worst has come for the Bucket family, flyers appear in the middle of the night, informing the world that the illusive and legendary Willy Wonka is opening his chocolate factory doors to five children, who are lucky enough to find one of his five golden tickets hidden in his bars of his chocolate, scattered throughout the world. Unfortunatly for Charlie, he only gets one chocolate bar a year, on his birthday, and his odds are none to none. Unless of course fate is taken into account.

First and foremost, this isn't a remake of the 1971 classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory but a truer adaptation of the book. Although, like the original adaptation, this version does make some of its own tweaks here and there, it's basically verbatim. Before I get into more detail I'm going to get the negative out of the way. The CG intro really bothered me. First, it was obvious CG. A virtual look at the Wonka Bar creation process. It really vexed me, not only because it was CG but because whenever I think Wonka Bar I think "human touch". Willy Wonka put his soul, his essence into each and every one of these bars and we're shown a robotic and alien looking process as strange machines pound away. It may seem like nitpicking but it was a bad start to an otherwise perfect film.

Now on to the good, which is pretty much everything else. I was nervous, worried and maybe ever a little scared as the film began. Mostly because of the trailer sequences of Johnny Depp as Wonka. They gave me the impression that he had turned my childhood hero into a flake. Quite the opposite after viewing the finished product. Not only does Depp nail the part, but he really makes it his own. Depp's Wonka is a torn and neurotic person, his childhood robbed by an overbearing father (the always excellent Christopher Lee). These new sequences, seen in neither the book or the original film give Wonka more depth without detracting from his status. His frequent regression is both entertaining and saddening, his inability to properly function with other people is constantly hilarious.

The casting of the children is great as well. Charlie's "nothing will break me" attitude is heartwarming. It's hard to feel sympathetic for him because it's clear he's beyond feeling it for himself. He understands his situation and always makes the best of it. Violet gets the biggest overhaul from the original film. She's still an obnoxious little snot, naturally, but this time around she's  ice. Her cold blue eyes give chills and she'll do anything required to win. Veruca Salt is much of the same, but more of a double edged sword. She now has a sweetheart mask she wears before quickly becoming her greedy self. Augustus is still a glutton, getting some genuine laughs in the process and Mike Teevee is just plain nuts. Not only is the kid off his rocker but he's also smart. He collects his golden ticket by deciphering the system through which they were distrubuted.

Finally the Oompa Loompas. These guys are the epitome of cool. I could watch their sequences over and over and be entertained again and again. All played by veteran small person Deep Roy, they're much of the same, yet so much more. Danny Elfman combined original lyrics from the book with different musical genres to make for some catchy, funny singalongs that are sure to be heard in the mouths of children everywhere.

As far as visual presentation goes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is brilliantly executed. Many sequences bring back the original (the chocolate room for example) while others are completly redesigned (the boat trip). It has the Tim Burton look but not to the degree that most of his other films have had. I wish I could single out a particular character or sequence that makes this film what it is but it's truly a collaborative effort. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and each easily holds its weight.

In summation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is yet another solid pillar in a summer of suprisingly great cinema. The thrill of seeing that Golden Ticket is enough to excite those from 8 to 80. I'll no doubt be in for repeat viewings and any fans of the original film can cast their doubts aside because I assure you, this is the real deal.