I'm biased, David Thiel is both a friend and someone who I've had the pleasure of working with (what a master of his craft, true professional and also deeply passionate about what he does). And I'm sure he's glad he dodged the Wonka bullet. But man, JJP has gotta figure out what to do without him, because bad sound just murders a game, and good sound makes a game that's only okay seem pretty great. Try playing Tron with the sound off.
I dunno, I honestly think passion is more important than theme in some ways. If your team is passionate you make it work. Like JJP is kinda clearly run by engineers now, but look how that worked out for Pirates. A 'recycled' theme, but with a lot of really interesting tech put into it. And JP is another master of his craft, even with the license restrictions Pirates had he killed it, the LCD looks top notch. No actors? Oh well, still great.
Wonka just feels like no one really cared. That might sound harsh, but really, look at it. The art is the slot machine off-the-shelf package. JP's LCD work doesn't come close to what he's already shown he's capable of. The sound is bad. Sorry, but it is. And the layout might shoot well, but there are no toys or inventive things that bring the whimsy of the film to life. I just don't get the sense anyone at the company actually cared one whit about the license.