A Different Version, Just As It Should Be! Look Out For Exploding Grapefruit!

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2013)

I fear that I'm always running a wee bit behind in both books and films, somehow thinking that after all the talking heads get finished screaming pros and cons, one can perhaps be a little more objective and less caught up in the fray; besides, I have hundreds of films in my personal queue.
Folks still seem to be searching for Gene Wilder in this film, but, amazingly, folks, he's not in it. It's a Tim Burton film, and it stars Johnny Depp and that said, I found it delightful, with an amazing other-worldly universe populated by Charlie Buckets and his fellow kiddie guests. This film, loaded with parodies of numerous other films (including the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey), is sort of a cross between The Wizard of Oz, Pee Wee's Playhouse and Metropolis, with the Oompa-Loompas standing in for all those robotic types in the latter--but this time they are Latino Lookalikes in dazzling shades of Technicolor candy.
I would personally caution against showing this to very young children, as there are a few revenge scenes that are perversely (though hilariously) graphic, such as the attack of the squirrels who drag a pesky girl to a large, dark hole and dump her in (of course in Burton's world, she richly deserves it, but some kids might find it frightening). As to the cast, Freddie Highmore is an understated delight, and Depp quietly subversive, playing well against expectations. This oddity is a moral little story about goodness which, if you're in the mood for the quirky, can be fun. I think there's room in the cinematic world for both versions of this kiddie classic to exist, don't you?