hmmm. very poor indeed.

Rating: 3/10 (12 August 2005)

Just to put this into context, I am a big fan of the original where Gene Wilder plays the part of Willy Wonka to absolute perfection.
This latest incarnation has sadly been "Americanized". Johnny Depp plays a very 1 dimensional Wonka with none of the intricacies and skills of Wilder.
For some strange reason this latest version tries to explain why Wonka is a bit eccentric and peculiar. Why do we need to know? Why does everyone have to have had an unpleasant childhood to explain their quirkiness? Explaining it is like reading the recipe to a meal you are eating - it ruins it and takes away the "something special".
Comparing the boat scenes for a moment, the original is moving, scary, thrilling, full of intrigue and panic, and all this with a simple slide show and Wilder's voice over. The new movie has a boat scene full of special effects that is dull dull dull. There is really no comparison.
The ending feels as though the movie was truncated, as though they had run out of time or budget. Wonka just turns around to Charlie at some random point and says "you are the only one left, you have won". A real anti-climax.
2 things I liked about the movie were the Bucket's ramshackle house, and the squirrels.
By the way, my 2 young children thought this new version was marvellous. Maybe I'm just old and biased :-)