This is what happens when you give Tim Burton free hands

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2006)

What happens is, he goes absolutely crazy and spouts out the overblown surreal trip that is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it is a total mess. The good news is, it is a rather enjoyable mess and this film is a good example of quirky, but not desperately quirky (Like Garden State, I Heart Huckabees, Broken Flowers, etc). It is a family film but definitely the prototype-film that people of all ages can laugh at and enjoy.
As is the style of director Tim Burton, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a visual, magical feast that does not look altogether different from the various versions of Alice in Wonderland. The whole atmosphere is kooky and dream-like as is emphasized further by a musical score that sounds like it belongs in a funhouse at a carnival. Some jokes are downright hysterical, but most are just nice and I found that many of the things attempted were mostly met by "huh... neat." - type reactions.
Not being a huge Johnny Depp fan like 95% of the world, I did find his performance as the enigmatic Willy Wonka rather enjoyable. How does Charlie and the Chocolate Factory compare to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory? Quite well, and it appears that Burton sticks closer to the characterizations of Roald Dahl than Mel Stuart did. Pretty good. 7/10