God Awful!

Rating: 2/10 (3 January 2006)

What can I say about how incredibly bad this movie was?? Everything about it was just wrong and even mildly offensive...the ugly oompa loompa (as people have mentioned, one ugly little man computer generated into many), Johnny Depp's creepy and weird interpretation of Willy Wonka (I'm not obsessed with Michael Jackson but you can't deny that there are serious similarities including that femininely creepy giggle of his), Danny Elfman's really bad songs (which is weird because I normally love his composing), and the whole back story to Wonka's childhood--completely unnecessary; more character development for the kids could have been used in that time. But that's no surprise given the fact that the plot in general was all over the place and almost sloppy. To top it all off, the pace of this movie is slow, which is odd for a story that has so much going on.
Basically, the whole movie just rubbed me the wrong way and by the time the credits rolled I was certain that I hated it.
I have liked some of Tim Burton's previous work (as well as Johnny Depp's) and though I pretty much knew it wasn't going to live up to the original (and realized it would definitely be darker with Burton at the helm), I never imagined it would be this bad. It's dark and twisted (not in a good way) and just plain creepy with no real heart and charm. When people start making jokes about cannibalism in a "kids movie", I think it's pretty safe to say you should head for the exit.
That being said, there were two good things about this movie...one was the boy who played Charlie...probably one of the few actors here that had any genuineness and charm at all....and the sets and special effects. Visually this movie is stunning in parts, but that certainly doesn't save it. Not by a long shot. It is the reason I give it a 2 instead of a 1 however.
If you love the original film like me, save yourself and DO NOT WATCH THIS VERSION. You'll be kicking yourself in the end...I am.