Oh dear. Grating voices, characters lacking any warmth, over-CGI'd 'oompa-loompas', and a purposelessness to the story ... a loser of a film

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2011)

Oh dear. Johnny Depp gives yet another reliable 'freak-of-nature' performance, totally over-played. His character lacks any humanity or kindness, meaning that there is no avuncular warmth to his character, nor any sensation of genuine humanity towards the children in the story. The whiny voice he chooses to give to Wonka's character is, again, unnecessary; and is so grating it merely serves to detract from what he says. This makes it difficult to concentrate on both the script and the plot of the film.
The oompa-loompas are clearly CGI'd - for ease of multiplication - making them obviously fake to even the most naive viewer. This takes away any 'escape from reality' when watching this film. All suspension of disbelief goes out the window. The comical make-up for the same characters in the 1970s' film version seems flatteringly effortful, by comparison. The advancement of film technology and the generation of CGI should add to the overall quality & belief in a film, not detract from it.
As the film progresses the plot changes to become more & more about Wonka's character, and less about the eponymous hero Charlie. I believe this could be blamed upon the director Tim Burton's obsession with Depp as his lead actor. Burton's continued assumption over the years that Depp can do no wrong in his interpretation of his characters gives the actor too free a reign. But - whether this is accurate or not - in this role the building up of Wonka's character and his part in the film merely takes away the importance of Charlie.
The old version of this film was pure-'70s-kitsch - fun, but a bit OTT - but the new film takes weirdness to a new level: the movie finally comes across as existential nonsense. Who cares about the Wonka character's 'drive'? Wonka's feelings about his father and own life-story should not feature strongly, if at all, in Charlie's story. In children's stories the central character is and always should be the kid. Adults should only be peripheral to their life: an untold philosophy/rule of 'kids versus the adults' normally works best. This is lost in Burton's 'interpretation' of Dahl's story.
Ironically, rather than belying the essence of each film, the title of each film version of this story is misleading: 'Wonka...' was all about Charlie, 'Charlie...' is all about Wonka!
In both the original story in Dahl's book, and in the 1970s' Gene Wilder film version of this lovely children's tale, Charlie leads the story. Burton has simply removed the centrifugal force of the tale, with the effect that the plot spins out of control, loses power, and drifts into nothingness.
What a loss to story-telling.