Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 82% (Critics) / 52% (Audience)
Directed By: Tim Burton
Written By: John August
Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore and David Kelly
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Synopsis: Tim Burton takes a crack at the Roald Dahl classic about a poor boy who wins a tour of the most magical candy factory in the world.

The Good:
I don’t see why Johnny Depp’s performance got such mixed reviews. Sure he wasn’t hot buttered perfection like Gene Wilder in WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY but I thought Depp’s Wonka was a kooky hoot and a half. I especially enjoyed the creepy Michael Jackson giggle and the stylistic choices he made with the wardrobe. the Prince Valiant bob wig mixed with the clothes of a vampire role playing enthusiast were nice touch.
Where Charlie really scored was with Charlie himself. Freddie Highmore was great in the role, he had just the right amount of wide-eyed wonder and precociousness. The Charlie in the original WONKA was an annoying little bastard with an incredibly oversized head that was made all the more huge because the little freak wore a turtleneck through the entire film.

The Bad:
I spent most of my time comparing the new actors to the actors who played the same character in the original movie and the only time that I longed for the original portrayer was in the case of Veruca Salt. The present day Veruca was plenty bratty but she didn’t have that malicious sneer of the original. CHARLIE’s Veruca was just a rotten kid (a bad nut if you will) but WONKA’s Veruca was a friggin’ sociopath. I always envisioned her growing up to become a Cruella deVille type…smoking cigarettes in one of those long cigarette holders, killing dogs so she can make coats out of their fur and kidnapping small children for shits and giggles.

The Ugly:
My biggest complaint is with the Oompa Loompas. What the hell was Burton thinking making them into miniscule clones of some Pakistani guy with a weird karaoke fetish? I needed orange dwarves in green wigs dammit! There is one cardinal rule of life and its that you can’t go wrong with little people and monkeys. Its a shame that Burton forgot that rule.

Final Verdict: Oompa Loompas aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it maintained all of the wonder of the original but benefited from a vintage quirky performance by Johnny Depp and the amazing visual aesthetic of Tim Burton. Coupled with an engaging actor as Charlie and this movie is a winner. B