72
Metascore
40 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThose Oompa-Loompas are the beat, and soul, of Burton's finest movie since "Ed Wood": a madhouse kiddie musical with a sweet-and-sour heart.
- 100Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonA peach of a story delightfully imagined by Dahl and lushly realized by Burton. It's full of witty or awesome scenes, flights of fancy and characters either totally, lovably sweet or outrageously, humorously rotten.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttHere's a film about kids and for kids that has not lost touch with what it is like to actually be a kid.
- 80Dallas ObserverBill GalloDallas ObserverBill GalloA perfect marriage of author and director.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliLovers of Dahl's book will almost certainly appreciate what Burton has wrought.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversDepp and Burton fly too high on the vapors of pure imagination. But it's hard to not get hooked on something this tasty.
- 70VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyEntertaining and fabulously imaginative in many ways, this second bigscreen rendition of the late author's modest morality tale on the wages of unbridled excess sports excesses of its own.
- 70The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThere's little wrong with Charlie, but it needs the Burton of old to animate its candy-colored universe with mischief and awe. Instead, he remains trapped like Wonka in a hermetic house of wonders, and the movie suffocates along with him.
- 70Village VoiceEd ParkVillage VoiceEd ParkFun and nourishing, Charlie's the topsy-turvy equivalent of a three-course dinner in a single stick of gum.
- 60TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelThis is rather a thin tale, not much thickened by Burton's direction or Depp's playing. There's a distance, a detachment to this film. It lacks passion.