A surprising hit!

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2005)

Boy, was I ever wrong when I first judged what little I saw of Johnny Depp's (Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Neverland) portrayal of Willy Wonka in the previews for this film. Even though it was different from Gene Wilder's portrayal in the 1971 version (titled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Depp ends up giving one of the most enjoyable and funny performances of his career. Because of director Tim Burton's (Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish) outstanding reputation in working with Depp, it allowed for Depp to be able to deliver a gratifying spin on Wonka's character that truly captivates the audience. Add to that the fact that it stays much closer to the book by Roald Dahl, and you've got something that'll last forever.
In the film, Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) plays Charlie Bucket, an innocent and selfless boy who lives in a little old lopsided house with his parents and grandparents from both sides of the family. They're so impoverished that they only have enough money to buy him one Wonka chocolate bar once a year for his birthday. So when Willy Wonka decides to give out five golden tickets wrapped inside of five Wonka bars scattered throughout the world for a tour of his secret chocolate factory, Charlie looks forward to his next birthday more than any of the others before it.
After getting chocolate for his birthday, and Grandpa Joe (played by David Kelly of Waking Ned Devine) coughing up dough for another - Charlie, while grateful for the chocolate, does not get a golden ticket. As three times is usually a charm, Charlie finds a ten dollar bill in the snow and buys one more chocolate bar and ends up being the last child in the world to find a golden ticket. Along with snobby rich girl Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), German choc-o-holic Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), smart-mouth Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) and gum-chewing champion Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) - Charlie enters the factory with the four other lucky, but undeserving winners. Little do they know what wonders (and dangers) lie ahead - let alone how fun it is for the audience to enjoy it all.
While the visuals in the Gene Wilder version were great for the time, we're treated to a much bigger and more epic version of the factory in this film. Updated with modern CGI and effects, we're given greater visuals of such things as optical illusions, a flying glass elevator that can go any direction, vast passageways, chocolate waterfalls, eatable landscapes, trained squirrels, and even "Fudge Mountain" (literally the size of a real mountain that lies underneath a real sky contained within the factory somehow).
This film shows us that Willy Wonka's chocolate factory is not constrained by the various laws of reality. It's a fantasy world that's isolated from the outside world - which is sort of a skewed reality in and of itself, with such things as Wonka building a chocolate palace overseas, or the existence of "Loompa Land" and its strange little inhabitants. Burton directs the picture so that we just accept the reality in which we're given, and that's what makes this film work.
The Oompa Loompas, who work for Wonka in exchange for wages consisting of coca-beans, are a delight to observe. They're all played by one man (Deep Roy), an already vertically-challenged actor who is digitally duplicated and shrunk to look extra tiny for the film. The Oompa Loompas treat us to wonderfully humorous and witty musical numbers that make us giggle with glee. Who would've thought that Roy, who played a quiet circus performer in Big Fish, could be so funny, imitating various "Esther Williams" swimming moves, or mimicking rock bands like The Beatles and Kiss. This is by far the most entertaining aspect of the film.
Thanks to a wonderfully adapted screenplay by John August (Big Fish), this version gives us not only an updated look for the story and funny Oompa Loompas, but also provides an amusing back story of Wonka and the factory, and insight as to why Willy Wonka is sort of two fries short of a Happy Meal. Willy Wonka is a seriously disturbed individual in this film, socially awkward and kind of rude. But while Gene Wilder simply was the way he was in the 1971 film without any explanation, this one actually goes deep into Wonka's childhood and his relationship with his father (played by Christopher Lee of The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars series) and gives us an explanation. This ultimately paves the way for a beautiful ending in which Wonka actually learns a valuable lesson from Charlie.
Not much fault can be found with the film. It may err a bit in that while titled "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the story tends to shift focus much more onto Willy Wonka's character journey than on Charlie's. While I can't say if that's closer to the book, it is such an intriguing journey that audiences really don't seem to mind. Johnny Depp is always a pleasure to watch in any film he's in, so we just have grown accustomed to him being in the spotlight. And perhaps Charlie, while still a kid, has already been on the journey because of his excursion through poverty and it's now his turn to help someone else in need.
Does it top the original? In many ways, yes it does. It's much closer to the book according to Burton, and now we know why Willy Wonka is so loopy. Johnny Depp delivers one of the funniest performances of his career, and just like in Finding Neverland, he and Freddie Highmore have great chemistry together on screen. This movie is a treat for all ages - one that is funny and entertaining and stands above the original film as yet another great cinematic achievement for Tim Burton.