Underrated? Yes. Perfect remake? Ehhh...

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2014)

This isn't just one of my favourite remakes, when I was a kid, this was one of my favourite films period. Not only do I think that this is closer to the book than the original, I think that the scenes that were also in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory are actually even better in this remake, but the film does have its problems. Is Johnny Depp's take on Willy Wonka as annoying as everyone says? Honestly I don't think so, but I can see where people who think it is are coming from. Is Charlie's character as overly perfect as everyone says? I guess but when you get down to it, he was written to be a sort of role model to kids, to show them the right values and morals to have.
One good point to note is that the only scene removed from the original in this remake that is noticeable is Willy Wonka's Death Tunnel (as I like to call it) which, lets be honest, was definitely removed for good reason. Take it from someone who was not that phased by films such as The Shining and Alien that the Death Tunnel scene from the original is scary enough to scar kids for life, and if that was remade in this remake... *shudders at the thought of a new Death Tunnel scene*
I think one reason this film gets quite a lot of hate is because the hate is coming from fans of the original film, but I think that what they don't realise is that this film was not so much a remake of the old film, but more a new film adaption from the book by Roald Dahl drawing little inspiration from the original movie and more from the original source, the book. And considering Roald Dahl actually didn't like the original movie for not being close enough to the book, it was probably for the best.
Overall I'd see this film is definitely a great watch for Roald Dahl fans, but maybe not for die hard fans of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and all with less insanely frighting tunnels from hell, meaning no therapy needed after watching this remake!
7/10.