Wow....I really liked this!!

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2005)

I saw this on Saturday. It's funny. I had a mix of feelings while watching this...
During the first part of the movie, where the golden tickets are being found and the characters are being developed, I was thinking "This is SO good. I have to buy this on DVD when it comes out." I loved the character development of all of the kids.
It has so many fun similarities with the original, but definitely some original stuff thrown it that is MUCH closer to the book (which I'm reading to my kids currently).
Anyway, the feeling changed when Willie Wonka enters the picture. Johnny Depp plays him incredibly well. Gene Wilder didn't play the person from the book. He played someone that is eccentric but really just "a little weird". Johnny Depp plays the character the way he was meant to be played. A major psycho with some definite issues.
The scene where you finally meet Willie is very odd. I won't spoil it for you, but you end up thinking "That was really, really weird". It sets the tone for the whole character...and you can't escape the fact that this guy is a total loon.
The story progresses fairly similarly to the Gene Wilder version and the similarities are very enjoyable...but so are the departures. You get a lot more background on Willie than the first movie and why he is the way he is. Another departure is Veruca's demise. In the first movie, she wants a goose that lays the golden chocolate egg. That's where she has her tantrum and loses it. In this version, there are no geese. Instead, as true to the book, there is a nut room with squirrels. The computer effects in this sequence are simply amazing as there is no way they could train squirrels to do what they do...and it looks totally real.
Another departure from the movie is the ending. Much better in my opinion.
In all, I will buy the DVD. I loved the movie and can't wait to see it again, but Willie Wonka is a really weird duck!