beware, don't compare, disappointment awaits

Rating: 5/10 (4 September 2005)

Anyone who saw the original with Gene Wilder as Wonka, will wonder what Tim Burton and his team were thinking. Yes, Depp was weird weird weird as Wonka, but where did all that extra stuff come from that just made Wonka fruit-cake material and digressed from the actual storyline ... am I wrong or is this movie called "CHARLIE" and the chocolate factory. Charlie was not the main focus, and I am disappointed. There was a lot of glossing over parts that I considered quite relevant to the entire point of the story - everyone who's read the book knows that Charlie is poor, he desperately wants the ticket, and that the other children are not as deserving as he is of the "grand prize". Glossing over these pertinent points and adding lots of wacky wonka weirdness sort of detracts from the expectations one holds of seeing a wonderful Roald Dahl book come to the big screen. I guess Tim Burton was so excited about the river of chocolate he forgot that half the movie, at least, is about CHARLIE. Tsk, Tsk.