A sweet and tasty treat!!

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2005)

Another remake it may be, but this is that rare feat, an improvement. Gene Wilders enjoyable romp has been improved upon by Tim Burton who stays more faithful to the source material while creating the world of Dahl's creation with no expense spared. The sets built in this film are immense and it is mostly set work thankfully. Something which Burton does that I like is to always think "in camera" rather than fall back on CGI too much.
Burton is a visual maestro. He is quirky and highly creative and his sensibilities of dark humour really mix well with Dahl. Only Burton and also Terry Gilliam could really have done this film true justice in the modern era, and Burton does just that. The film is magical, well done and really brings the best out of Dahl's best work. The factory is wild, expressionistic as is the Buckets house. While between Burton's vision and Johnny Depp's effortlessly diverse acting skills, the character of Willy Wonka is brilliantly realised, matching Gene Wilders equally great performance toes to toe. Like Gene Wilder, Depp gives the character a kind of creepy aura, and a sense of a dark underlay. While Wonka is a strange and reclusive figure he certainly seems to have a darker side, an almost sadistic edge. Depp brilliantly portrays this. The thing that makes Johnny Depp arguably the best actor of his generation is that every role is different, wildly different, so diverse and always brilliantly portrayed. Even gods like Pacino, De Niro and Nicholson can often seem to be playing the same old characters over again. His portrayal of Wonka may earn Depp his third consecutive Oscar nomination after years of being criminally ignored.
The rest of the cast are all good, with good child performances as the suitably gruesome foursome to enter the factory with Charlie. David Kelly is also superb as Grandpa Joe. However perhaps the star of the show is youngster Freddie Highmore, who previously impressed in another Depp film, Finding Neverland. Highmore surely enters the pantheon of excellent child actors, a pantheon that is sadly not heavily populated. However Highmore really is good. He has a hard role here, no question because while Charlie is a quiet and affable character it is a performance that demands subtlety and acting without dialogue and Highmore does this brilliantly. He is the heart of the movie and gives a performance of shockingly immense gravitas. He can have no higher praise than to have been recommended for the part of Charlie by Depp.
Danny Elfman delivers one of his best scores in years and it adds to the magic of the film. This is a good piece of work and a welcome return to full on Burton. Definitely his best film since Sleepy Hollow. ****