Interesting take on the book

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2005)

As a huge fan of both the book and original movie, it was with great anticipation that I entered the theater. I was a little bit disappointed, but to be honest this re-make does have some merits. The acting is great, as expected from Depp, and I thought the children were well chosen for their roles. The Oompa Loompa dances were amazing, much better than the pathetic attempts at cartwheels in the previous adaption. Another nice asset was the character of Violet Beaugrand. In the book her only vice was chewing too much gum, not really a significant enough fault to merit turning into a some sort of purple balloon. Here, she is also a type A perfectionist, always trying to win, an annoying and increasing trait in modern day children.
Now the bad news. Depp's Micheal Jackson approach to the character of Willy Wonka is interesting, but seemed a little out of place. The boat ride was a huge disappointment. In the original movie, it's one of the scariest scenes ever filmed, with rapid images of worms crawling over corpses and chickens being decapitated. I have even seen it on a list of the top 100 screen scares. This time around, however, it's really tame. The ending also bothered me, when we're introduced to Wonka's father. It destroys the mystery created in the book, where the lack of background information about Wonka made him more ominous, more exciting.
That said, I'd still recommend this movie for the great story and special effects, and fans of the original should also enjoy comparing the two very different versions of the classic novel.