Johnny Depp has a future impersonating Broadway divas in Vegas.

Depp says his skittery character in "Sleepy Hollow" was based on Angela Lansbury, and his performance as Willy Wonka in the adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" owes a debt to Carol Channing, whose high, clenched-jaw voice he has swiped.

Depp's Wonka is idiosyncratic, with his mid-sentence freak-outs, Michael Jackson pallor, bizarre jokes about cannibalism and gender-confused speaking voice, but he's no caricature. Unlike Gene Wilder's (also excellent) Wonka, this one has problems he's trying to figure out. So he's not just an inexplicable oddball, but one with problems a lot like the rest of us oddballs.

Because it springs from the imagination of Tim Burton ("Batman," "Ed Wood"), "Charlie" is visually stunning - the gigantic, candy-colored sets seem equally influenced by Bauhaus architecture and Japanese cartoons. But, unlike some Burton films, this one doesn't just wow us with its looks. It's also a sweet movie, centering on Burton's favorite theme: dads and sons who don't mesh.

This Willy is troubled by a most-likely-to-become-a-serial-killer childhood and by the dad who disapproves of his decision to pursue candy as a career choice. Willy's response was to separate from his family (a running joke in the film is that he can't say the word "parents"). But when he takes four spoiled brats and one plucky charmer (that would be Charlie) on a tour of his top-secret chocolate factory, Willie is forced to deal with his family issues.

"Charlie" has a lot in common with "Willy Wonka," but the focus is more squarely on Willy and the lessons he learns from the kids and their parents. "Charlie's" factory tour is really a tour of bad parenting - being too permissive, letting kids veg in front of the TV, etc. - and, although Willy teaches the kids lessons, just as he did in the original movie, he makes it clear he thinks the parents are at fault.

We'll see if Burton still feels that way when his 1-year-old reaches bank-robbing/graffiti-spraying age. In the meantime, the kid is probably going to love his dad's movie. Instead of a bunch of jokes, half of which are aimed at parents and half of which are aimed at children, "Charlie" takes the more satisfying Pixar approach of crafting jokes that will appeal to both.

It also has a big heart. Where Burton sometimes misses the mark is in forgetting that all the movie-making invention in the world can't involve us in a story with no characters to grab onto, but "Charlie" has a few of them: Willy; earnest, whispery Charlie (the exceptional Freddie Highmore); and Charlie's impoverished family, whose hope - despite their desperate circumstances - teaches Charlie and Willy that nothing is impossible.