A great big turn off

Rating: 1/10 (19 September 2005)

I went to see this film as I am a big Johnny Depp fan, but I was completely turned off by the whole thing. The pace was so slow I was almost asleep, and I kept waiting for the magical moments to happen. Alas, they never did. The opening went on for ever and a day - remember the wonderful entrance Gene Wilder makes in the original? Well, Willy Wonka's entrance here, with the stupid "song" of the puppets, was just dire. He actually looked embarrassed to be there. The parents of the "lucky winners" were one-dimensional to say the least, and although the child actors were OK they were nothing to write home about. My 11 year old son went with me to see this film, and as we came out of the theatre I was wondering what he would have to say about it (and whether I would have to pretend that I had liked it!) but the first thing he said was, "Well, that's not the best film I've ever see. Bit of a disappointment really." I just felt that the director had wasted so many opportunities, not to try to emulate the first film, but to bring some fresh magic to the wonderful story. Instead, all we got was long-drawn out scenes, bad dialogue and a faintly embarrassed Johnny Depp.