Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

If anything cramps Depp, and the film's sense of fun, it is the weight that is placed on reconciliation between Wonka and his father.

As the star who's framed in the center of nearly every shot he's in, Depp is a constantly surprising Willy Wonka.

Finally a worthy, excellent remake.

In its combination of fidelity to its source and wacky visual ideas, Burton's take is a triumph of common sense and imagination -- exactly the qualities for which we admire children.

Witty, wonderful and wildly imaginative, Burton's first proper 'family movie' since Pee-Wee's Big Adventure delivers a sugar rush that'll last for days.

I wonder if even children will respond to the peculiarly humorless and charmless stylistic eccentricities of Mr. Burton and his star, Johnny Depp.

While Wilder's Wonka had the pensive perfume of bittersweet chocolate, Depp's Wonka is that weird white chocolate--not really what you have in mind when you want to eat chocolate but can be an acquired taste and definitely part of the culinary craft.

Credit Burton for going the practical route&#59; it visually grounds the otherwise fantastical film. Surprisingly Depp's unhinged and frequently bizarre performance works more often than not.

... for all of the flights of fantasy, Burton never quite finds the heartbeat that warmed the original classic with Gene Wilder, partly because this Willy Wonka is so disconnected and distracted, unable to relate to anyone...

Marrying extreme set design and sublime casting... Burton's film showcases his usual interest in gothic effects and the original Willy Wonka's psychedelia.