Depp doesn't meet expectations...thank goodness.

Rating: 10/10 (18 August 2005)

I loved CATCF - but admittedly - it wasn't at the top of my favorite Depp films upon first viewing. After I left the theater on opening night, I wasn't quite sure what to make of Depp's performance. NOT because I saw 'Michael Jackson'...THAT freaky image never popped into my head, thank goodness...but - in all honesty - because I was expecting 'Jack Sparrow', especially considering the target audience. Although a Depp 'career supporter' for nearly 18 years now, I expected him to do what the likes of Tom Cruise, or Brad Pitt, or so many other actors do today: Give the exact same performance as in the last movie. I SHOULD have known better, seeing Depp go through his chameleonic changes film after film, character after character. But THIS time I expected him - for some ungodly reason - to try to capitalize on his newly acquired fame by sticking with 'Jack Sparrow's' formula for success. But, thank goodness, he didn't. Instead he spun the audience around and baffled them with what seems to be an awkward performance, leaving them shaking their judgmental heads. However, the problem was not with Depp's acting, but in expectations. Why DID we expect Depp to repeat any of his critically acclaimed performances of the past...why did we even expect him to TRY to appeal to the masses? This is a man who would rather hide under a rock (or funny hats, glasses, ponchos, floppy hair, etc...) then be praised for his 'appeal' as an actor.
So I went back to see CATCF again...and again...and WOW!! How refreshing to see something completely different on the screen!! Depp DIDN'T make it easy, this is a 'thinking man's' performance...and you're either going to accept what you see on the surface, or you're going to look a bit deeper. I looked deeper, and I have come to the conclusion that Wonka alone stands out as Depp's most complex character to date. This character is complicated - childlike, but sinister; confident, but insecure; a genius, but an idiot - he's the Ultimate Paradox...and we don't know whether to laugh with him, or at him, or to even laugh at all. Well...I am now doing all three, and doing so in earnest...but perhaps not the way you would think. Wonka's awkwardness breaks my heart, his cunning glances and sinister smirks make me *squeeee!* with delight, and his lame-o jokes make me roar with laughter, as if I'm in on some weird inside joke. This is a brilliant performance and shouldn't be written off too soon as 'less than stellar'. I think time will prove that even as a dysfunctional, giggling chocolatier, Depp is a true wizard at what he does and, perhaps, the last true visionary standing in Hollywood today.