WOW! Highly entertaining and a must see.

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2005)

That's my one word review. One of the best and one of the most well written, directed and made movies I have seen in a long time. First one in a long while to exceed my expectations. I will probably see it again (at least) once just to catch anything I might have missed the first time. But on to the details.....
The 1971 movie that was based on this book still remains one of my all time favorite films. But no matter what people tell you, this is definitely not a mere remake. This is a re-telling of the classic children's book that was my absolute favorite as a child. And it is very faithful to the source material, down to most of the dialogue. Yes, there are some updates (good ones, to the four bratty kids and a subplot that was not in the book where we find out who Wonka is and why he got so zany), but beyond that, it's one of the better adapatations of a book I have seen on film.
From the opening credits with Danny Elfman's amazing score, you can tell that this is going to be a visual treat, with a very well done (although mostly CGI, but it's good CGI) opening sequence of the process of making Wonka bars that is classic Tim Burton. But fear not: This is not just "eye candy"; the characters are well acted, the story unfolds at the right pace, and the entire movie is very entertaining.
We are treated to some background on Willy Wonka, get to know Charlie and the Bucket family (the part of Charlie is well acted) and the other four children who win the Golden Tickets. This part alone is entertaining enough, but then we get to the factory and the fireworks really start.
I admit, I was skeptical of Johnny Depp in the role of Wonka when I first heard about it. But he nails it. I was not at any time reminded of Michael Jackson, but rather of a bizarre cross between a Mike Myers character (only with a lot more substance), a Monty-Pythonish character, and I'm not sure what. But his wackiness is one of the things that really make the film; at the packed house I saw this at, he got most of the laughs (one of the Grandmothers and the other kids, particularly Veruca, got some as well). His performance is very different from Gene Wilder's, but equally entertaining.
The factory is visually amazing, and features everything from a chocolate river rapids ride to a room full of pink sheep to a room full of squirrels that are very sensitive about their nuts to heavy metal Oompa Loompas. I won't give too much away, but the kids meeting their fates for misbehaving are nicely updated and extremely well done-and more faithful to the book than the 1971 adaptation. The Oompa Loompas are great, their songs are very entertaining, and the one guy who played them all did a good job.
The ending is also great.....one of the biggest laughs came from the final shot of the film.
All in all, it was a very entertaining film, with off the wall humor (and a few double entendres that the adults will get but the kids won't), amazing visuals, and good storytelling. I almost gave it a 9 rather than a 10 only because some of the scenes in the trailer and in the commercials for some reason were edited out (none of the best ones, but some little things, for example, the "don't lick my boat" bit, the "back off, you little freaks!" and the line about "dear old fish, go boil your head" and a few other things, but they don't take anything away from the movie and will more than likely show up on the DVD. It's too good of a film to give anything less than a 10, and perfect family entertainment.