Movie Remakes: Creative New Spins or Out of Ideas?

This past few years have brought on a huge amount of movie remakes. Some good, most not so good. What's the deal? Is Hollywood running out of ideas, or are people lending a unique perspective to old favorites?

Rear Window became Disturbia. Halloween was remade by Rob Zombie. Some other recent remakes have included The Hitcher, The Hills Have Eyes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and more. Where is the creative juices that used to flow through Hollywood? I'm here to talk (or debate) about the actual creative value of some Hollywood remakes.

In 2005, I was barraged with images of a Michael Jackson like Johnny Depp replacing my image of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. I love Johnny Depp as a creative talent (and also as great to look at it), but this movie almost completely ruined him for me. While I appreciate bringing your own aspects to a character, Willy Wonka was just creepy. Gene Wilder made him an eccentric, yet loveable man in the original. I can't even begin to describe what Johnny Depp did to the character wthout possibly having nightmares. As a general rule, I usually love Tim Burton movies. I did appreciate the atmosphere that was attempted at in the movie. The oompa loompahs creeped me out. I hope the studios at least got a discount on the mystic tan service. On to my point, there was no creative difference in this. It stuck strictly to the story. The one thing that might have saved this movie for me would be to have it end where the sequel to the book (Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator) would begin. I can't imagine a better person to direct that imagination explosion than Tim Burton.