Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film) critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" praised "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", writing "Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka may be a stone freak, but he is also one of Burton's classic crackpot conjurers, like "Beetlejuice" or "Ed Wood"." Roger Ebert gave an overall positive review and enjoyed the film. He was primarily impressed by Tim Burton's direction of the younger cast members, but was disappointed with Depp's performance: "What was Depp thinking of? In "" he was famously
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film) Jim Carrey as Willy Wonka, believing the duo could make "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" relevant to mainstream audiences, but Liccy Dahl opposed this. After receiving enthusiastic approval from the Dahl Estate, Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct in May 2003. Burton compared the project's languishing development to "Batman" (1989), which he directed, in how there had been varied creative efforts with both films. He said, "Scott Frank's version was the best, probably the clearest, and the most interesting, but they had abandoned that." Liccy Dahl commented that Burton was the first and only director the estate was happy