At last a decent version of the classic book

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2005)

It's notable that the bulk of negative comments about this film are from people who haven't read the book. If they had, they would realise why Dahl hated the original movie, as it not only deviated from the plot, which I can forgive, but deviated from the spirit of the book, which I can't. Dahl was the master of modern-day children's literature; he knew that as well as comedy and happy endings, children love the sinister and the surreal. The original film kept the surreal (alas that 70s clichÃ© kind of surrealism) but discarded the sinister, replacing it with twee Hollywood glitz and sentimentality. Gene Wilder is a great comic actor, but his Wonka was all wrong: for the most part far too friendly, and then far too nasty when the movie pointlessly had Charlie breaking the rules. Basically, the original film is execrable.
Burton's version is infinitely better, and surely Roald Dahl would have loved it. It sticks to the book's plot, dialogue and characterisation almost religiously, and Burton's style is a perfect match for Dahl's. Johnny Depp is great; I never used to have much time for him but he grows on me with each of his films that I see. His Willy Wonka is less self-assured than that of the book, but it works very well, and the addition of his childhood flashbacks, though superfluous, is actually quite well done and adds a bit more depth to the character. As for the Michael Jackson thing, well, my friends and I noted that too, but really only because of the pale face and squeaky voice: Wonka may be weird, but not THAT weird.
The use of British character actors to play Charlie's family is great too, but I'll admit that as I'm British I always saw the family as British when I read the book, so having an all-American cast wouldn't have been right for me. Unlike many, I thought that the Oompa-Loompas were brilliant and the songs were hilarious, my only gripe being that Dahl's lyrics couldn't be heard properly above the music. The sets were magical too. In fact the only thing that grated with me was the British actors using Americanisms such as "candy" and "pants", but that's obviously completely forgivable given where the bulk of the potential audience lives, and if I remember correctly, the book used Americanisms too.
To sum up, I've been looking forward to a respectable film version of the book for over 25 years, and finally it's arrived. Surely they will have to do the sequel "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", and I for one can't wait.