Based more closely on the adaptation of the Dahl children’s classic “Willy Wonka” then the former 1971 Gene Wilder (screen) version, Charlie (Freddie Highmore) is a ragged little boy whose last meal, plainly wasn’t. One day a kooky candymaker, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) throws a contest where five winning children will get an exclusive tour – an experience of a lifetime, inside his chocolate factory, if they can find the five winning candy bars. The first is a chubby German boy who eats his way through enough candy until he comes to a winning ticket. The second, an ‘entitled’ high society brat, tired of all the ponies daddy buys her, wins, while the third is a karate competitive, Georgian girl, with a “Kill Bill’ drive. The fourth, an overly-aggressive TV saturated brat from Colorado gets the fourth ticket. That leaves one ticket to be won by — you guessed it….Charlie. And so Charlie bids farewell to his mother (Helena Bonham Carter) and the five children enter the world of Wonka. It’s quirky and funny, more than the expected dark and scary Tim Burton style. And while the theatre’s trailers make it seem like total childlike boring nonsense, it’s anything but. It has a feel to what a grownup might imagine “Alice and Wonderland” meets Michael Jackson’s “Neverland”. And speaking of “Neverland”, the movie re-teams Depp with Highmore (the sweet little boy in last year’s runaway smash “Finding Neverland”) one of most critics top five list. It also reunites Burton and Depp which somehow earns this movie a certain come-to-be-expected pedigree. The movie is Burton’s best, as far back as can be remembered — pure brilliance and absolutely hilarious. Depp is always on his game when taking on roles that make him a grown-up-little-boy with a twist of fantasy, and always a heart of gold.
