You! Wonka!

Film Although Big Fish offered some redemption after execrable Planet of the Apes remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is another nail in the coffin of director Tim Burton's reputation. Although it opens intriguingly and with some neat commentary on how the media descends on such competitions as the golden ticket, once Johnny Depp's misfiring Willie Wonka has appeared and the underdeveloped titular factory, the mystery and magic dissipate into a morass of computer generated effects and poor storytelling. After an opening that quite rightly focuses on Charlie and his attempts to find a golden ticket, the rest of the film oddly focuses on Wonka's broken relationship with his father and no matter how genial Christopher Lee's cameo, it's very hard to care since Willie is such an unloveable, cynically sappy construct. With only the odd neat idea which I'll not give away lest all of the enjoyment is sapped out the film, by the end you'll be wondering what the point of the whole thing was and who it's aimed at, because kids - this thing will rot your teeth. Go read the book instead.