Last night I went to see Tim Burton's faithful, yet curiously unsatisfying, adapation of Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Reviews aside - you can find a good one here - what fascinated me was the audible crack! every time someone bit into a Wonka bar in the film. It shows that Mr Wonka was indeed making fine chocolate, unlike the sweet pappy muck that bears his name at a sweet counter near you these days.
Food aside, it's also nice to see David Kelly, who plays Grandpa Joe getting a chance to play a decent role rather than another drunken old Irish sot - as in The Calcium Kid.
Having read the book to my children I found the movie pleasant. I wouldn't say it is a great movie but I did enjoy it. The characters were exactly how I imagined them all those years ago.
While I didn't hate the film, I did find it rather difficult to avoid thinking back to the scenes which have been burnt into my brain from repeated showings of the original film. In Ireland it wasn't Christmas unless Willy Wonka was on TV and, sadly, every year I made sure to watch it! I normally love the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp combination but here, although the film had memorable moments, it just didn't quite work for me.