Review Detail

I haven't seen the original in a long while (though I remember the old 1971 version quite well) and what I do remember was that Depp's Wonka was creepy, the music was awful, and there was a lot of other junk thrown into it. Well, this edit fixes two of the three, which isn't bad. (The music is really quite irredeemable and, if the edit weren't trying to stay completely faithful to the book, should've been cut. But it would've been weird to have a Wonka film without the Oompa Loompas singing. It's just too bad the filmmakers couldn't have used songs more like the Gene Wilder film had.) It doesn't completely erase Depp's creepiness but makes it come off more socially awkward and just plain odd than outright insane.

I really liked the book-like intro with the stills and all, and I like that the ending was fixed so now Wonka doesn't try to make Charlie leave his family. Other than the occasional minor issue with the video quality (which didn't impede my enjoyment of the film whatsoever), I felt like this was a far better version than the original, and goes a long way to redeeming this mess of a film. I still recommend the 1971 film for any true Wonka fan, but if you're going to watch Depp as Wonka, this is a superior experience than the one that was released.