Fantastic, Wonderful, Amazing, Wow!!

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2005)

Oh how the child in me reveled in this beautiful re-imagining of the Roald Dahl classic! As someone who never liked the 1971 film, it was so refreshing to see Burton's take on it, and Depp's exceeding SUPERIOR portrayal of the reclusive, strange Wonka. Many have criticized his performance, but those who are criticizing need to understand the source material a little better. Those who have read the book but still didn't appreciate Depp's performance should at least appreciate what he was reaching for. For me, every word out of Wonka's mouth was hilarious, and the special touches and "inside jokes" involving Depp and Burton's other films together made it even more enjoyable and worth a repeat viewing.
The sets were gorgeous, and the Danny Elfman score was perfect as well as his adaption of the Oompa Loompa lyrics from the book. In fact, the Oompa Loompas were fantastic.
The only aspect that kept this movie from being 10 stars was the back story with Wonka's father. I thought it slowed the momentum of the film, but not enough to detract from its magic.