Redundant remake but they had some fun with it.

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2019)

I won't say this isn't enjoyable in a high fructose, corn syrup drenched, blockbustery way.
It really isn't Roahl Dahl's Charlie, it's Tim Burton's Charlie with Dahl left far behind. (Actually I suppose it's the screenwriter's Charlie, whoever that is, I'm too lazy to check).
Grotesquely funny though never quite as much as it thinks it is, they really fanfic this s#@* up with Wonka getting a back story even. The whole thing has a luridness that can be hard to get used to, but is weirdly appropriate for what was always a rather bitter-not-so-sweet story.
Charlie is similar to his counterpart from the other movie yet strangely synthetic and hard to like. The depiction of the loving but poor family is way too maudlin.
The other kids are actually quite captivating. They're bratty but they've got a good bit of spunk (Or should I say spice? ...no) and they are a pleasure to watch with some great young acting behind them, especially a really Violet Beauregard.
Depp's pantomime Wonka is by turns fun and painful. It's Johnny does what he can but the script should have picked a lane. You can be funny and creepy at the same time but the ingredients were just applied in the wrong quantities.
The imagery is imaginative but it can often look pretty fake.
Ultimately, nothing close to the magical, funny, emotional powerhouse it seems to think it's capable of being but if you go in expecting it to be trash it's kitsch good fun.
Like the book, the narrative is flawed by the real conflict ending way too early and relying too much on coincidences.