What ever happened to Gene Wilder?

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old one) is probably one of the greatest children's movies ever made. Who can forget Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka? It defined the character for a generation of children who grew up in Roald Dahl's weird and wonderful world. And those amazing songs... Funny but true - when the movie originally came out, it was considered a flop at the box office. Yet the movie retained a cult following and became a smash success on video and TV. It is now considered a classic.

So I finally saw the remake yesterday with Johnny Depp taking over the role of Wonka. Needless to say, the film did not live up to the original. It was just as bright, and very imaginative (as you'd expect from Tim Burton) but lost the charm, the sense of wonder. What was Johnny Depp thinking? His Wonka is just plain weird. His face is painted white, his voice is squeaky, no wonder many people thought he was doing an imitation of Michael Jackson. Put Gene Wilder in that role and perhaps the movie would have retained the magic of the original.

That being said, whatever happened to him? He was THE man in the 80's, teaming with Richard Pryor in such films as "Stir Crazy" and "See no Evil, Hear no Evil"...who can forget "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein". Anyhow, he seems to have disappeared - we've all heard of Hollywood discriminating on age, but come on folks, this man's an icon...I saw him on the Late Show with Conan before the new movie came out, and though he's aged, he's still retained that sparkle that endeared him to kids around the world.

that's all I got.
cheers....