---
title: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory"
critics_score: 68
critics_reviews: 20
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005): what the critics said

Critics' score 68 from 20 reviews: 9 positive, 10 mixed, 1 negative.

Most critics are warm but not won over. The reviews lean positive, with almost as many mixed verdicts as favourable ones, and the praise clusters firmly on the look of the thing: the factory design, the colour, the invention in the set pieces. Several find it closer to Dahl’s book than the 1971 version, and Freddie Highmore’s Charlie is admired where he is mentioned. Johnny Depp’s Wonka draws the sharpest reactions in both directions, described as creepy and terrific by some and one-note by others.

The reservations gather around the added backstory for Wonka, which many of the mixed reviews call unnecessary and soppy, and around a tone some find darker than the material can bear. The spread is fairly wide. Den of Geek sits lowest, arguing Depp gives the wrong performance entirely, while later reappraisals from Polygon and Collider are among the kindest, suggesting the film has aged better than its first notices.

## Empire — William Thomas

Fi1m's normalised score 87/100 (inferred from the text). 29 July 2005. 

The critic praises Tim Burton's version for its rich sweetness and acidic wit, visually jubilant factory design, and strong performances, especially Freddie Highmore's emotive Charlie and Johnny Depp's eccentric Wonka, delivering a witty, imaginative family film.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/charlie-chocolate-factory-review/)

## The Guardian

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 29 July 2005. 

The critic finds Tim Burton's film a highly enjoyable and authentic Dahl adaptation that mixes sentimentality with satirical gross-out, marking his best work in years. Depp's Wonka is terrific casting as a dysfunctional dandy, though the film is quite scary and darker than the 1971 version.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/jul/29/2)

## Evening Standard — Derek Malcolm

Fi1m's normalised score 78/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. 

The critic calls it splendid filmmaking that kids will love, highlighting Burton's visual feast, imaginative factory, and Depp's mysterious Wonka, while noting a certain shallowness of focus and overly feelgood ending.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/sweet-smell-of-success-7385402.html)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Fi1m's normalised score 77/100 (inferred from the text). 15 July 2005. 

The critic calls Burton's adaptation wondrous and flawed, praising its success at feeding the youthful appetite for aesthetic surprise through its sumptuous, eerie look and inventive set pieces despite some lapses. The one thing singled out is the way pleasure mixes with a shadow of menace in the film's visual and tonal mood.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/arts/a-sugary-delight-with-a-hint-of-menace.html)

## Time Out — DC

Fi1m's normalised score 77/100 (inferred from the text). 26 July 2005. 

Burton delivers a charming children’s film with imaginative production design and a wonderfully creepy Depp performance as Wonka, though an unnecessary father-son subplot feels soppy and recalls the weaker elements of Big Fish.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 72/100 (inferred from the text). 15 July 2005. 

Burton's version is visionary and phantasmagorical but more Burton than Dahl, relentlessly strange and dark with breathtaking visual imagination that makes even chocolate seem evil; it works overtime to warm up the chilly material but the darker tone dominates. The critic singles out the breathtaking visual imagination and precise images as the standout element.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-15-et-charlie15-story.html)

## Variety — Todd McCarthy

Fi1m's normalised score 69/100 (inferred from the text). 8 July 2005. 

Entertaining and fabulously imaginative in many ways with wondrous surfaces and a riotous explosion of color, the film sports its own excesses and goes from delectable to curdled as Depp's performance shrinks to one-note and vaguely creepy. The critic singles out the dazzling opening credits and first 35 minutes plus the visual invention in every corner.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2005/film/awards/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-2-1200524655/)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 67/100 (inferred from the text). 11 July 2005. 

Burton delivers glorious visuals, quirky characters and mordantly deadpan humour but falls short on simple storytelling values and character relationships, resulting in a detached, eccentric work that may not fully satisfy despite strong commercial potential.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/4023711.article)

## Sight and Sound — Ryan Gilbey

Fi1m's normalised score 66/100 (inferred from the text). 

The film is a less druggy, straighter adaptation than the 1971 version, with strong flashbacks and Depp's damaged Wonka providing the richest moments, but the factory scenes feel dulled by familiar production design and an unnecessary father-son reconciliation subplot weighs it down.

[Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/2502)

## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane

Fi1m's normalised score 62/100 (inferred from the text). 18 July 2005. 

The film is often astounding with perfectly rendered luxuries and added strange toppings, but it becomes jaded and semi-sickening as the eye acclimatizes to the constant treats, ending as a slightly costive parable of family values rather than a pure sticky-fingered feast. The critic singles out the superfluous backstory and pedophobic creepiness as drawbacks.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/25/making-mischief)

## The AV Club — Scott Tobias

Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 12 July 2005. 

The film is an improvement over the 1971 version in many respects but feels like it moves a beat behind Dahl's novel, with Depp's Wonka as a frightened man-child. It lacks the Burton of old to fully animate its candy-colored universe with mischief and awe.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-1798200899)

## The Times — Cosmo Landesman

Rating ★★★. 31 July 2005. 

The film looks tasty but smacks of stale ideas, with Depp's performance a reworking of earlier roles and the Oompa-Loompas a disappointment. It mixes sentimentality and sadism in a kiddie form of payback, and Burton needs to change his tune.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/article/film-originality-has-gone-for-a-burton-mbtskz9kjlz)

## Slant Magazine

Fi1m's normalised score 54/100 (inferred from the text). 12 July 2005. 

Burton's lavish adaptation is a disappointingly tame acid trip—more polished and sinister than the 1971 version but undermined by saccharine timidity and a docility that makes it sickly sweet rather than scary. It is superior in some ways, with strong production design and musical numbers, but ultimately lacks the menacing nastiness central to Dahl's tale.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/)

## Polygon — Jesse Hassenger

Fi1m's normalised score 83/100 (inferred from the text). 22 December 2023. 

The critic contends Burton's version best captures the material and character of Wonka among the major adaptations by emphasizing the creator's self-regard and prickly vision over sentimentality.

[Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/24011109/willy-wonka-movie-comparison-johnny-depp-gene-wilder-timothee-chalamet/)

## Collider — Ron Evangelista

Fi1m's normalised score 78/100 (inferred from the text). 25 July 2023. 

The critic argues the film deserves re-evaluation on its own merits rather than constant comparison to the 1971 version, calling it enjoyable and charming despite imperfections.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-good-tim-burton/)

## Digital Spy — Daniel Saney

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 3 August 2005. 

Burton delivers a fresh, visually enchanting take faithful to Dahl with strong performances from Depp and Highmore, though it loses some mystery around Wonka and leans toward style over substance.

[Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a23149/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory/)

## Consequence — Matt Melis

Fi1m's normalised score 67/100 (inferred from the text). 3 July 2016. 

The piece examines whether the film has improved with time, praising its visual style and closer fidelity to the book's darker tone and focus on Charlie while criticizing Depp's Wonka and the added origin story as distracting.

[Read the review](https://consequence.net/2016/07/has-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-sweetened-with-age/)

## Eye for Film — Scott Macdonald

Fi1m's normalised score 61/100 (inferred from the text). 29 July 2005. 

The critic finds the film imaginative with strong visual delights and production design but criticizes the choppy delivery, added sentimental backstory for Wonka, and preference for the 1971 version over this one.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-film-review-by-scott-macdonald)

## The Ringer — Julianna Ress

Fi1m's normalised score 52/100 (inferred from the text). 20 December 2023. 

The article discusses how Burton's film, like later attempts, undermines Wonka's mystery with an unnecessary backstory and origin story for the character.

[Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2023/12/20/movies/willy-wonka-movie-prequel-timothee-chalamet-review-analysis)

## Den of Geek — Simon Brew

Rating 2/5. 6 April 2009. 

The film never really gelled despite strong visuals and production design; Depp's Wonka feels like the wrong performance, lacking the curiosity or intimidation of the role, making it a missed opportunity overall.

[Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-blu-ray-review/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory.md