My previous experience with the story was limited to two viewings of the 1971 film and one with the 2005 film back when people still liked Johnny Depp. The older movie terrified me as a child. In particular, the spinning fan-blade has long haunted my nightmares. The newer one felt much more silly than sinister--which is what the book turned out to be as well.
Although I still do not like Dahl's stories, I did enjoy reading the book for Rowen. It gave us something to talk about, and he seemed to get quite into the story, even making predictions as it went along. Once the book was done, I figured that we would watch the movie (I was hoping for the modern one), but it turned out that we didn't own it (I thought we did) and it wasn't on any of our online subscriptions. When I checked at Freddy's today, I could only find the older movie, so I decided to face my childhood fear and watch that one.
It was both just as horrifying and still not as bad as I remembered it. The differences between it and the book are myriad. Like Ready Player One's book and movie, it was almost like two completely different tales were made with the same characters and basic plot. However, what really surprised me were the musical numbers. Only by watching this movie did I figure out where that brief melody in Thor: Ragnarok when Thor is in the chair approaching the Wonka-like Gamemaster came from, not to mention "The Candyman Can" song.
Willy Wonka is almost a villain in the film, manipulating people with cold calculation rather than being a whimsical, out-of-touch inventor like he is in the book. I really do not understand the strange psychotic episode that takes place on the boat as macabre images cross the screen like a horrifying brainwashing program. Add to that the lack of reliable assurances that the naughty children are safe at the end, and I feel that my childhood fears of this movie were well-placed.
Thankfully, Rowen did not seem to be bothered in the same way. In fact, he was more interested in noting the similarities and differences between the movie and the book. It does not seem that he will face the same lifelong trauma that I did.
I just need to convince him to try the Harry Potter series again.