“You’re really weird,” says Willy Wonka to one of the clueless adults during the tour of Wonka’s the magnificent chocolate factory, but no one in the movie is weirder than Mr. Wonka himself. Johnny Depp adds Willy Wonka to a list of characters more varied and fabulous than any actor working today. His past screen lives include Jack Sparrow, Ichabod Crane, Ed Wood, Hunter Thompson, Don Juan, Donnie Brasco, Edward Scissorhands ... and that’s just a sampling.

Depp hilariously and effectively took inspiration from Keith Richards for the pirate Jack Sparrow, and in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka seems like a mix of Michael Jackson and Prince. The Edwardian-style purple velvet suit, the Prince Valiant haircut, the soft high pitched voice, the vampire-like pale opactiy of his skin and the out-of-touch-with-reality attitude are eerily suggestive of a perverse pop hybrid of the two singers, both famously reclusive, which Mr. Wonka is.

Depp’s performance is funny and entertaining. It doesn’t get in the way of enjoying the picture, but the focus on Willy Wonka and his past does make for a strange addition to what is essentially a morality tale aimed at children.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the story of a famous chocolate factory situated in a rather grim industrial town reminiscent of 19th century London. The most delicious chocolate comes out of the factory, though no one has seen the owner or any factory workers for 15 years.

One day it is announced that five golden tickets will be placed at random in Wonka bars to be shipped all over the world. Those who find the golden tickets will be treated to a tour of the Wonka factory, all the chocolate they could desire and fabulous surprises beyond imagining. The wonderful opening sequence of the new film shows us the manufacture of the chocolate and the insertion of the golden tickets.

The first four tickets are found by very selfish and spoiled children. Augustus Gloop is a very large German boy who stuffs his face with chocolate. Veruca Salt is a very wealthy British girl whose every whim is indulged by her father. Violet Beauregarde is a vulgar American who chews gum constantly. Mike Teavee is a rude American obsessed with violent video games. These four children and their unpleasant parents are updated for the new movie and are just as funny and obnoxious as any fan of this story could wish.

And then there is Charlie Bucket, played by Freddie Highmore, who co-starred with Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland. He lives in the same town as Wonka’s factory. His family is very poor. They live on cabbage soup in a falling down cottage that stands up with angles as extreme anything the German Expressionists imagined. The Bucket’s home is wonderfully Tim Burton, complete with a loft for Charlie with a hole in the roof.

The Buckets are poor in terms of material wealth, but rich in family. All four grandparents live with Mom, Dad and Charlie, and as in the book and earlier film they inhabit one big four poster. Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) used to work in the chocolate factory before all the workers were let go. Wonka and his factory figure prominently in the dreams of Charlie and his grandfather.

Charlie finds the fifth ticket, and soon the big day arrives. Crowds surround the factory as the five lucky ticket holders each accompanied by an adult. They are welcomed by some singing robotic puppets that misfire, explode and melt halfway through their musical number. It is all very Tim Burton, as is the re-imagining of the factory, which is gorgeous, imaginative and convincing.

As regular readers know, I’m in favor of remaking movies. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a very entertaining remake. While I prefer the original, the new film is really fun to watch. It is not nearly as scary as the original, which will be welcome to some parents and kids.

In the earlier film, Gene Wilder, with his wild hair and odd, aloof manner, made Willy Wonka a very ambiguous character. It isn’t clear what his motives or true character are until the very end of the film. In the new film Willy Wonka has been tramatized by a very difficult relationship with his father, an obsessive dentist. In flashback, we see Willy’s father (Christopher Lee) lecturing him on the evils of chocolate. Poor young Willy is wearing head gear and braces only Tim Burton could have designed. With the addition of the subplot of how Willy became so strange and how he will be restored, there isn’t room for the scary machinations of Slugworth. I really missed the testing of the children with the everlasting gobstopper. I really missed the more in-depth testing of Charlie. I really missed the fizzy lifting drink. As a kid I always wanted to be able to fly, and fizzy lifting drink was my fantasy.

Like all Tim Burton movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is wonderfully realized visually. But like many Tim Burton films, the movie loses its way at moments. I found the decision to make one actor serve as all the Ooompa-Loompas (actor Deep Roy is cloned by CGI for big production numbers) more than a little creepy. The lyrics for the songs were written by Roald Dahl, but the sound editing is mostly just loud. You can’t understand what is being sung about half the time.

Burton also has the unfortunate habit of regularly casting his girlfriends in his movies. While I love Helena Bonham Carter, seeing her fitted with really dopey fake teeth and dirtied up for the part of Charlie’s mom just feels wrong.

Roald Dahl thought adults, especially parents and other authority figures, were usually terrible influences on children. The theme of children with great resiliency surviving adults runs through most of his fiction. The fact that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has become a bit more of a psychological profile and rehabilitation for Willy Wonka’s childhood damage fits this theme, in a way. The find-what-was-broken-in-childhood storyline fits our therapy drenched time well.

I miss seeing this story from Charlie’s perspective, especially when such a talented young actor is playing Charlie. The new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has most of the rough edges smoothed over. Though I loved seeing the four naughty children emerging from the factory after their “transformative” experiences, nothing in the new film is as fulfilling and satisfying as Charlie giving back his everlasting gobstopper or Willy’s hand closing over it.