They Ruined It...

Rating: 1/10 (11 November 2005)

Such a waste of good talent -- Tim Burton directing, Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka -- how could it be better? It should be great, but they ruined it. Having read and loved the book as a kid, and very much enjoying the first film version, this one doesn't cut it. It's a timeless story and didn't require "modernizing" -- keeping with the original story and merely updating the special effects would've been great. Willy Wonka was turned into a Michael Jackson-like character and the Oompa Loompa's were all one actor, digitally duplicated to appear as many identical characters -- the musical numbers with the Oompas were 'updated' with electronic music and Oompas attempting to disco-dance.
This movie is what happens when a bunch of college kids get jobs at studios, do drugs, and dig into the movie-rights vault. Fortunately, there's always the book -- and the first film version -- if anyone could've matched Gene Wilder's performance as Willy Wonka, Johnny Depp could've, but he didn't...