oversimplified, lacking memorable scenes

Rating: 6/10 (14 August 2005)

Minuses
1) To me this story seemed like a remake of The Grinch Stole Christmas or one of the Home Alones (surely an insult to Dahl's work)! Wonka has all these repressive psychological issues (bipolar, peter pan disease, passive aggressive.) that make him bitter and heartless and which are resolved by a child at the end who encourages him to face his fears
"And what happened then...? Well...in Who-ville they say That the Grinch's small heart Grew three sizes that day!"
it was a cheesy ending, you could see Wonka's heart turn from gray to pink, nothing to do with the novel which Burton said he was remaking..
2) His speech was annoying. I'm still trying to figure out what they mixed this together and why. Perhaps it's mid-west American 11 year old boy? "K?" Why?
3) Because Gene Wilder already interpreted Wonka so we have something to compare Depp to, overall Depp's interpretation was really bad. He's far too simplified. there's no coherency to his character. I would have to re-read the book to see if Wonka was so idiotic and simple, I highly doubt it. Wilder was a complicated complete mature individual, one in which when you they referred to Gene/Wonka as a genius, is was believable. Depp/Wonka is more like the 4 children that are eliminated, simple stereotyped personas.
4) the same goes for the children with the exception of Charlie who was very good. In the '71 they are presented as more complete individuals, here they are over-simplified, over-brattified, whose morality and destiny are presented in super-easily recognizable North American 10 year old cultural codes. All four of the eliminated children are, in a sense, the same. is there any difference, for example, between Violet and Veruca? and their parents? not in Burton's interpretation. perhaps with the exception of Mrs. Beauregarde, the rest of the parents were pretty much same non-memorable junk, yes even Grandpa Joe.
5) a major disappointment: the setting/the factory was far too gray and metallic. It looked like it was designed by the Tin Man. This is a chocolate factory?!?! It looks and smells like a NASA plant. Accordingly, the chocolate room was a disappointment, there wasn't even any introduction to the room, they just go in it like its no big deal. The invention room, the elevatorthe aesthetics of everything in the factory were disappointing, more appalling than appetizing. I mean the magnificent everlasting gobstopper and the meal-gum don't even have a color. The '71 factory (especially the chocolate room, one of film's best scenes ever) makes you drool in amazement, this one left me with nothing but an aluminum taste in my mouth.
At the beginning of the movie when you can see the gray exterior of the factory, I was excited because I was certain that the banal exterior was going to be used to contrast with a colorful intriguing interior, but, nope.
6) the songs the oompas sang were terrible!!!! totally ruins the Elfman soundtrack.
7) resurrection of the 4 children at the end in funny-form. this is silly and no doubt was requested by the HHIC (Holy Hollywood Inquisition Censorers) who would not approve of children disappearing in a chocolate factory.
8) the sequence of first half of the film is too choppy which spoils the excitement that could be provoked with a bit of fluidity and anticipation. for example, they go from outside of the factory to inside too fast, the same goes for the immediate cut into the chocolate room.
Pluses
1) The whole Postmodern technological (with the exception of the outer space grayness) ambiance of the film. The hodgepodge of styles, English/American accents, architecture, and the fragmentation/confusion of (virtual) space effectively brings the story to the hodgepodge 21st century and shows the novels near-universality in terms of time and space.
2) All remakes will slightly derivate from the original. In this case, we have the whole father dentist issue, reminisces of Edward Scissohand memories with his father. I thought this fit very well with the storyline but wasn't worth sacrificing a strong magnificent Wonka for a wimpy one with childhood issues who can't mutter the word "parents."
3) Burton did a good job at interpreting Dahl's critical candyfied-Marx discourse on the social classes, particularly "the mass", the factory worker, the repetitive oppressive job, a person as just one part of an enormous money machine, the evil alienation qualities of money, the rich being snotty, greedy, self-centeredetc. in fact the town they live in looks like Manchester. (Hence proving the depth of the novel, that it's not just for kids.)
4) there are some mysterious scenes/gestures of uncertainty (which is an important theme in Dahl's work), not as many as in the '71, but there are some. Like when they're talking about the gobstoppers, some strange looks are exchanged, or the fact that we don't know if the children's' accidents are improvised or not, Mrs. Beauregarde's response after Wonka mentions the endorphins in the chocolate...
I give the film 6/10. It will be difficult for this film to succeed when you have the '71 film, a masterpiece novel, and critical life-long fans of both to compete with. Overall, the film lacked complete characters and memorable scenes. It was fun to watch, but made me treasure the '71 film even more.