Wilder’s public disapproval might just be backlash at Burton who told Empire Magazine he found the 1971 version "quite disturbing" and The Chicago Sun Times the film was a bit too “sappy” & failed to incorporate author Roald Dahl’s vision:
"It's sappy when it shouldn't be sappy and it's weird. Let's just say it's not one of my personal favorites. I'd rate 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' much higher… I responded to the children's book because it respected that children can be adults, and I think adults forget that. There can be darkness and sort of foreboding. Very sinister things are very much a part of childhood. I like that sort of humor and emotion put together."
