Alice in Wonderland
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It's pretty impossible to argue with the fact that if anyone was going to do a reworking of Alice in Wonderland, it should be Tim Burton. His genius in the field of making the dark and sadistic so gleefully accessible and brilliant is absolutely unparalleled by anyone, past or present. Tinkering with a classic story, though, is usually a pretty dangerous prospect for any director, no matter how skilled they are at what they do. But, considering Disney's original animated version of the film left out a huge chunk of the story and invented some things in order to make it more 'family friendly', the notion of trying to top the original isn't an out of this world one.
Tim Burton has been re-imagining and re-creating films for years, and his experience in the art of fusing his own twisted imagination with the likes of classic tales seem to be where his talent shines the best. In the film, his colorful representation of the world the younger Alice referred to as "wonderland" is so well done, that it would almost be acceptable if the story that it was based on was less than stellar. But since the story is equally as fascinating and well-executed, it makes for a non-stop carnival of moodscapes and funny dialogue that end up making an altogether fascinating film.
Though the film does feature more than a few Burton mainstays --Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter have been in pretty much every one of his films -- it does introduce some wonderful new faces. Mia Wasikowska is great as a post-teenage Alice, Crispin Glover is fantastic as the Knave of Hearts, and Anne Hathawayputs all of her Disney Princess training to good use for her role of the White Queen. The acting is superb overall, as everyone brings their own personalities and idiosyncrasies to the table. The voice contributions of the animated characters are just as perfect.Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman use their small screen time to make their characters unforgettable, and even Matt Lucas is hilarious as the voices of both TweedleDee and TweedleDum.
It's not really necessary to analyze the plot line of a movie like this, so it won't be done. What matters is if the film lives up to all the hype and potential surrounding it, and the answer to that is a resounding yes. Even the cheesy fight scene at the end when Alice finally takes up her destined cause and fights the blasted Jabberwocky is enjoyable, despite the fact that it's probably the most predictable thing Tim Burton has ever put on screen in his career. The world he creates is far superior to even the beautiful depictions of decay that made Batman and Sweeney Todd the gothic masterpieces they are, mostly because each color matches the symbolism and contrasting moods of the film perfectly.
Overall, Alice in Wonderland fares much better than many of the flurry of remakes hitting the cinemas as of late. It's thoroughly watchable, and like the best movies for children features many bits and pieces that are tailor-made for the adults in the audience. Chances are, anyone under the age of 15 will probably miss out on a lot of the jokes, but that makes it all the more special. Disney has been known for putting out some racy stuff in its day, and this ranks with the best of them. The bottom line is that this movie is definitely worth seeing, and definitely worth owning.
--Timothy Golden
Comments
Atascadero, CA
ive heard some pretty bad things about this movie which had made me less and less excited to check it out.. seems like Tim Burton ruins another classic.
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Oklahoma
It was aight. Similar to Avatar, in that the narrative was lacking, but the visuals were great. However, I found Pandora to be a much more immersive and exciting world than Underland. I'm hesitant to tag it as a disappointment because it wasn't a bad movie. Just underwhelming.
Green Brook, NJ
obviously i thought it was good since i did the review. i don't see how anyone could have not enjoyed this.
I think it was pretty, but I think it was far from it's true potential... ESP with Burton at the helm. I actually think having Disney over him hindered it a lot (that's what I'll say, at least, so I won't think any less of one of my creative idols). I actually imagine Del Toro (of Pan's Labyrinth fame) would do a phenomenal job as well, though would possibly flounder if Disney did indeed shackle the amount of creative freedom. As for acting, I thought Anne Hathaway was rather horrid... she looked the part well, but she acted way too stiffly. The new Alice was good, liked her. Johnny Depp was great the first scene he showed in, but lessened his "mad" as things went on too often... I daresay Bonham Carter did a much better job of being the MVP since, going in, I thought her character looked too cartoony, but her skills actually made me forget this and enjoy watching her. Again, beautiful LOOKING movie, but it was far too shallow and fell way short of what I think it could've/should've been. It felt a little too phoned in a parts for it to be groundbreaking or make me rush out to see it again as soon as possible. They hype was way more than it's worth on this, sorry man. To each their own obviously, but that's my 2 cents.
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Rise Against
I agree, but vice versa. A thing at the end and the end credits were the two main things that got to me about each movie. For Avatar it bumped it down to a C, but for Alice it didn't matter so much 'cause I enjoyed the movie.
Was that Taylor Swift doing the end credit song for Alice? Horrible choice whatever song it was.
Atascadero, CA
havent seen the movie but pretty sure its Avril Lavigne.
Decoymusic.com (CEO/Founder)
Blue Reef Design Studios (Web Development)
http://aarontroy.tumblr.com
Wisconsin
i'm gonna see this in imax in a week or two but i'm expecting it to be pretty good. my sister liked it, but my friend said it was boring.
but i really liked avatar, so who knows.
Wollongong, New South Wales
i thought this was pretty mediocre. i just think so much more COULD have been done.
Does anyone know if Christopher Lee was the Jabberwocky?
San Francisco, CA
yes, yes he was
This movie was gorgeous, mostly entertaining, and had some cool characterization (though surprisingly Depp's Hatter felt a bit stale).
SPOILERS
In terms of plot and theme, I really only enjoyed the little bits and pieces that actually delivered on the promised darker tone (e.g., the severed head bridge). Other than that, I thought it was a big, dumb, disappointing blockbuster. As if Wonderland (or "Underland") weren't interesting enough by itself, apparently we silly stupid moviegoers needed a big monster for Alice to fight! So let's take a poem mentioned like two or three times in the original book and turn its mythical creature into a big mean CG dragon Alice can slay in a videogame-style final boss fight where she gets to spout a one-liner before the kill! Wait, we have to make a whole movie? Uh ... just rehash a bunch of scenes from the original story and pass it off as homage. Don't forget to lead the audience around by the hand via dialogue. Also, throw in a few gimmicky 3D shots, but don't use it for anything inventive or exciting.
It wasn't horrible (I never wanted to storm out or anything), but its soul seemed to have gone missing, possibly gutted by the Hollywood machine. I guess I just expected more from Burton, too.
Beer Blog
Minnesota
Scott, I'm with you on this. I was super disappointed after having seen this in Imax 3D, partially because the 3D wasn't all that great and partially because the movie itself wasn't that great. I had like 0 emotional connection to any of the characters and, frankly, didn't give much of a crap what happened to anyone throughout the movie. Yeah, some of the visuals were neat at times, but the whole thing felt hollow.
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