Went to see it last night with 3 others and we all left thinking it was just excellent. Johnny Depp was amazing as Willy Wonka, and reminded me more of the book's Willy (even Quentin Blake's illustrations looked like the Willy Wonka Johnny Depp portrayed)...
Obviously this will be compared to the original film, but in fairness it shouldn't be as the original film wasn't an accurate interpretation of the book, and this isn't a remake of THAT film, it's another interpretation of the original book. Willy Wonka's character in the original film is nothing like that in the book... he IS aloof, detatched and manic in the book, and Johnny Depp got that across perfectly... His amazement at what he was seeing in his own factory was also a joy to see.
I didn't think i'd like the Oompa-Loompa's all being played by the same person, but I thought they were so good. Their songs cracked me up every time, as did Johnny Depp's reactions to them. He was laugh out loud funny throughout the whole film.
There were some excellent visuals, too. The whipped cream one was so bizarre it was hilarious. The boat ride through the chocolate river was stunning
The fact that squirrels were used instead of geese (as in the book), that there was no awful Slugworth backstory (as in the book), and that all the original characters were as they should be makes this film a huge hit for me, and hopefully I'll go to see it again before it's released on dvd.