Just Awful

Rating: 1/10 (17 July 2005)

Clearly the studio shills/plants are out in force for this dud. Word of mouth should be just dreadful.
Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka is downright creepy. He vacillates from kid-hating to having an almost pedophiliac attraction to them. And that's when the sensation jells. His outrageous wardrobe, his sallow, flawless skin, his pageboy haircut make him look eerily like the eerie Michael Jackson. That image and thought certainly yanked me out of the moment every time he appeared (which didn't begin until the film was one-third over).
The film adds another subchapter to the book's ending, but otherwise follows the original storyline, with poorer-than-dirt Charlie finally finding one of five golden invitations to visit the Wonka chocolate factory.
Settings inside the plant reviews, this movie is just awful.
Unlike "Willy Wonka," Burton's film isn't a musical. But it has several musical production numbers in it, all featuring the omnipresent Oompa-Loompas. Shifting gears from the uneasy comedy to the song-and-dance segments is one of the great transitory troubles here. Stay Away.