Sometimes Less is More

Rating: 7/10 (8 August 2005)

In short: not as good as the original movie. (Spoilers to follow.) Charlie himself and his various grandparents were at least as charming as those in the previous version, but Johnny Depp was too creepily strange to be a likable Wonka. His Michael Jackson-ish portrayal of the chocolatier has been commented on elsewhere, and it's an apt comparison. Gene Wilder did it far better: you got from his portrayal of Wonka that his character was flawed, that he was not simply a happy-go-lucky guy who loved children. He had issues. He had an edge. But Wilder didn't beat you over the head with it.
Along the same lines, the movie did not need the flashbacks about Wonka's childhood that explain his preoccupation with chocolate and some, at least, of his quirks: his overbearing dentist of a father didn't allow the young Willy sweets, and Wonka has family issues in consequence. Well, sometimes less is more: we didn't need to know what in his life had set Willy Wonka off. Indeed, defining his problems somehow diminishes them. (Nor were the flashbacks of Wonka's initial encounter with the Oompa Loompas at all necessary.)
The story told in this movie, too, is inferior to that of the original. (I don't remember the storyline in the book sufficiently to comment here, but this movie certainly diverges pretty far from it.) Charlie wins the factory here by default: there is no gobstopper honesty test--remember that touching scene in the original in which Wilder grabs Charlie's hand and tells him that he knew all along that it would be him? Two other scenes spring to mind as decidedly inferior in this version, as well, and similar in why they're inferior.
(1) In the original movie Gene Wilder, after some delay, walks--slowly, with a limp--out of the factory to greet the crowd and the assembled golden ticket winners. The mood among those gathered turns, as they watch his slow progress, from jubilant to--what?--surprised, disappointed, depressed: Wonka's not what they'd expected; he's not vibrant; he's sad. Then of course he lets on that it was an act. He in fact is vibrant. But he's demonstrated in this simple, affecting scene that there is something a little off about him. The new movie aims to create a similar mood and a similar effect, but its makers go big: there are songs and animotronic puppets and fire to greet those arrived at the factory. Wonka's audience is appropriately dismayed, but it's nowhere near as effective as Wilder's limp. It's just too much.
(2) Similarly, there is the boat scene. In the original Wilder makes the too-fast boat ride genuinely scary just with his acting, by his quickening speech/song, because his behavior is erratic enough that you're worried about whether he can be trusted. In the new version the boat ride is made less scary with more work--special effects. Again, less is more. (And granted Depp's character has erratic behavior to spare, but somehow his Wonka is not as frightening here as Wilder.)
Finally, the new movie takes the Wonka story farther than the book or movie do. With Charlie's help, Willy resolves his problems with his dentist father and loses his family issues: an absurd and unnecessary addition to the story.
In closing, I'll return to what I said in the opening paragraph, that Depp's Wonka is not likable. As portrayed by Wilder, Willy Wonka, however odd his behavior, was a nice man. When he behaved badly you were upset because he'd disappointed you. It's not the grand prize that Charlie is sad to lose in the original: it's Wonka himself. But when this new Wonka behaves badly--when he in effect denies Charlie the chocolate factory--one is not disappointed with him; one is more apt to think "good riddance."