Not any better than the original! What a disappointment!

Rating: 4/10 (16 July 2005)

I have to say first that I love the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I also love Johnny Depp and that is the main reason I went to see this movie, curious to see how this remake would fare against the original. I have to say I was mighty disappointed. Gene Wilder is far better in his portrayal of this character. In short, the movie was not funny, it was just weird. As was Depp in his portrayal of Wonka, not funny either, just weird and a little disturbing. I'm not sure what the point of even making this movie was, as everything was apparently copied from the first movie, and all the best parts of the original left out. The back story of Wonka and his dad was really bizarre, and not really very well integrated into the factory tour. It just felt tacked on as an afterthought to stretch the movie time perhaps? The ending was particularly unsatisfying and anticlimactic. I recommend that you wait and rent this one, or better yet, skip it and rent the original. I think I will because I want to remember how wonder Gene Wilder was in this role.