Way Better Than Expected

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2005)

Wow. This movie's not that bad, and its not a stupid kids movie, if even the darkest PG-rated movie I've ever seen. Tim Burton was pretty much born to direct this, and all of the kids were perfectly cast, from the violent video game addict Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) to the gentle, good natured Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore).
You may have noticed that I have not mentioned Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) yet. I thought his character was the worst, and possibly the strangest. No, no, let me revise that. He was the strangest character, by far, from licking the guts of a giant flying bee, to giggling happily after plastic puppets meet a fiery doom, in which they all melt. Strange, indeed.
But I did indeed enjoy his back story. Tim Burton has given him a strange childhood as the son of a dentist, who treats candy like poison. The young Willy Wonka is hilarious, and his face is covered by an astonishing mess of braces, headgear, and strange mouth contraptions. After a sad scene where the elder Wonka burns all of Willy's Halloween Candy, Willy becomes a rebel and a candy mogul.
This movie is a good, lighthearted movie that actually doesn't make you fall asleep... Not bad... Not bad...