Depp Nearly Ruins It

Rating: 6/10 (6 September 2005)

I usually like Johnny Depp's quirky approach to characters and credit him for making many films much better than they had any right being, but for once his instincts are off. In Tim Burton's new take on the classic children's story, he nearly derails the film with his weird, creepy interpretation of candy empresario Willy Wonka.
It's not that I was comparing this to the Gene Wilder original; I didn't much like that version either (though I liked Wilder's performance more) and thought Roald Dahl's book was due for a retry. And in the first 20 minutes, leading up to the day actually spent in the chocolate factory, Burton nails Dahl's story just right. In many ways it's a perfect matching of artist and source material, and the cordial relationship shows for a while. But once Depp enters the picture, Burton gives him free reign to walk away with it, but I didn't like where he took it.
People have said Depp reminds them of both Carol Burnett and Michael Jackson. Throw Carol Channing and Frances McDormand from "Fargo" into the mix and you get a pretty good idea of how he plays the character. The thing is, the writers screwed up big time in giving Wonka so much back story and making him a character that begs for redemption. The great thing about Wonka in the book was that he wasn't explained; he was a candy genius, his life was devoted to making great candy, end of story. The point Dahl was making was about proper ways for children to behave, not about reconnecting with your family, father/son relationships, blah, blah, blah. Dahl's book was perfection, so why mess with it? Other than the awful additions, however, this film stays much truer to the book than the 1971 version. There are some great songs by Danny Elfman for the Oompah-Loompahs to perform, the bad kids are deliciously bratty, and Freddie Highmore is really winning as Charlie. Maybe in another 30 years they'll try to adapt this book again and get it right. Or people could just stop trying to make movies of the book and (gasp!) actually read it instead.
Grade: B-