Good but not great

Rating: 6/10 (18 August 2005)

Well, what can I say. As a fan of the three-headed Burton/Depp/Elfman monster, AND Roald Dahl, this seems a match made in heaven.
Burton has a trademark look to his movies that takes reality and twists it slightly (grey locations in snow? yep, that's a Burton). Roald Dahl has a similar style in his writing, where the seemingly familiar become fantastical and slightly sinister - although never really dangerous. The design, casting, acting, score, direction are all pretty much perfect... the story however... well...
Without spoiling anything, this project seems at first to have been an attempt to faithfully recreate the book on screen, and for the first 90% of the film they achieved it, aside from some glaring pandering to those people who don't watch anything that isn't 'Hollywood'. There's a reasonably unobtrusive back story added for Wonka, told in flashbacks, which is forgivable as it doesn't alter the story in any major way. There's also the obligatory script faux pas to make it more palatable to that small yet powerful lobby of movie-going Americans who find it confusing and disturbing to hear unfamiliar English terms for things; you find me an old English man who refers to trousers as pants and sweets/chocolate as candy - it can't be done (oh and we don't use dollars either).
Both of these however are understandable in today's culture, where America's box office dollars mean more than film integrity (maybe I'm the only person left who shudders slightly when watching Harry Potter and the 'Sorcerer's' Stone, probably so).
What is a step too far however is the jarringly 'Hollywood' ending, which is a shock after the lush dark fantasy and relative accuracy of the rest of the movie. Remember how bad A.I's ending was? Yes, this is just as bad. I wonder if some idiotic test audiences played a hand in this slushy Disney-fied mess of an ending, or if the script writer felt it would never sell in Hollywood unless it has some moralistic rubbish thrown in for good measure.
Whatever the reason, it's like someone handing you the greatest Wonka bar in the world, then telling you it was sneezed on after you've already eaten it. You enjoyed it at first, but now that bad taste in your mouth will be all you remember. What's even more stupid, is the original ending has an easy sequel hook, which is now discarded in favour of Willy Walton's All American Christmas Special - g'nite Willy, g'nite Charlie boy...