What children's film do you think had potential?

What children’s film do you think had the most potential but was ruined by the attempt to make it kid-friendly? — Jeffrey
In 1968, when I was in fifth grade, I went off to see the movie version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a book I adored. I’m still smarting from the experience. Ian Fleming’s famous children’s novel was so cunning and deadpan it made you feel like an adult just to read it, yet after sitting through the film, with its icky musical numbers (”Truly Scrumptious! You’re Truy-ooly Scrumptious!”) and a plot that had zilch to do with the book’s, I emerged as puzzled as I was disheartened: Why make a movie out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang if you’re only going to ditch what made the book great in the first place? There’s a message to be had from Tim Burton’s enchanting and largely faithful film of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and it is this: Kids, like adults, don’t need their entertainment spoon-fed.

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