Johnny Depp nearly sinks the film!!!!

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2005)

I am a fan of the original 1971 classic. I went into this film not expecting to like this version better, but I was open to be pleasantly surprised. When a classic move is being redone, as seems to be the norm these days, what one would expect is to be reminded of what made us like the 1st version. Tim Burton seemed to be the perfect director for this film, and in many ways he is. The film is visually inventive, but not jawdroppingly so, I would say that the look of the film is only bigger in scope than the original, not better. Obviously it takes cues from the original film, and yes, it seems to follow the book more, which is not necessarily a good thing.
The biggest problem for me is Johnny Depp. At first it seems that he would be perfect to play Willy Wonka. He goes for total weirdness here, His Wonka is more annoying than anytrhing else. Depp is a great actor, but he makes Willy Wonka to robotic and unlikable. He is creepy at first but never dangerous. Just weird. Gene Wilder had made Wonka into a 3 dimensional character. He was funny, quirky, gentle, and at times creepy, but he made him more or less a likable character. This film wants us to sympathize with Wonka, but I found him to annoying to care. Depp created a caricature, not a character. The rest of the film is fine. Freddie Highmore as Charlie is good, the supporting cast is good too. There are some funny reworkings of the originals scenes, some work, some don't. If one sees this film without having seen the original, I think that it would probably be more enjoyable without the comparison. I'll stick with the Gene Wilder classic! Grade: C+