You can spot a Tim Burton movie a hundred miles away. Visually, It’s either quite dark and gothic looking, or bright and lucid looking. Alice in Wonderland combines the both, but has more of the latter in Burton’s own imagining of the Lewis Carroll classic.
In Tim Burton’s version; Alice (Mia Wasikowska) goes back down the rabbit hole, a place where to its inhabitants she is all too familiar as she was there when she was a young child. At the age of 19 now, Alice is after being proposed to by a local Lord and she bails out, much to plenty of “one is not amused?” at a big, lavish garden party. When she eventually lands, she meets all her “old” friends including the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and of course the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).
Alice is convinced it’s all a dream and just wants to wake up and mo st of the local’s think she’s not the right Alice, as it’s foretold that an Alice will come and slay the Jabberwocky, a gigantic Dragon type creature. And she eventually learns, her true destiny is to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror and indeed get it on with the Jabberwocky.
Alice in Wonderland, from a visual perspective, is certainly Tim Burton’s finest work. I’d imagine if you opened his head and climb in, this is what’s inside there. The sense of scale here is second to none. So much so, that its a head trip trying to figure out who and what is normal height and who has shrunk and so on. After a few minutes of this brain numbing madness, you have no choice but to just give in, as you are absorbed into this stunning looking world. All the Burton trademarks are here from the crazy looking characters to tree’s with the branches sporting the Burton spiral. The character design is off the wall, as you’d expect from Tim Burton. Large heads, small bodies, small fat bodies, large heads and so forth. Special mention must also go to the monkeys, who are everything from table legs to candle holders. While they are mainly background objects, it shows beautiful attention to detail. Alice in Wonderland is one of the visually spectacular movies you’ll see this year.
The performances from the many characters are also quite good. Matt Lucas excels in his 2 character role, with quick, snide remarks and a nervousness that borders on cute. Helena Bonham Carter (the Red Queen) is thoroughly convincing as some uber, demented, omnipotent ruler. The role of royalty does indeed suit the long time partner of Burton. But for me, Johnny Depp steals the show. In a performance that is absolutely bat shit crazy, the Mad Hatter is a very dark, schizophrenic character, surrounding himself with an asylum load of rodents and sub humans. . Switching accents in the blink of an eye, and having a quaint nervousness not seen since the days of Jack Sparrow, the Mad Hatter is uniquely likeable. On the down side, Mia Wasikowska, is not at all likeable, and her performance feels for the best part, false and forced. When she speaks she seems uncomfortable, and she doesn’t look at all comfortable in the role of Alice.
So, for the best part, Alice in Wonderland is so far so good. Well, it is until you actually watch it. Putting the visuals to one side and Depp’s performance, there is not a great story here at all. If there was as much time went into the story as the visuals, this could well be a very different review. The movie doesn’t hold together as it darts all over the place and it doesn’t flow the way it should. On occasion, I actually found myself to be a bit bored and wondering when it was all going to end. As for the 3D, Wonderland is a movie that was shot in 2D and then converted into 3D. Besides a little bit of depth, this is a movie that you could nearly watch the 3D verion, without the 3D glasses!! In hindsight, I wish I went off to see the 2D version instead!
Overall, Alice in Wonderland is visually stunning and Johnny Depp is delightfully demented, but there’s not a whole lot holding the thing together which is a shame!
In Tim Burton’s version; Alice (Mia Wasikowska) goes back down the rabbit hole, a place where to its inhabitants she is all too familiar as she was there when she was a young child. At the age of 19 now, Alice is after being proposed to by a local Lord and she bails out, much to plenty of “one is not amused?” at a big, lavish garden party. When she eventually lands, she meets all her “old” friends including the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and of course the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).
Alice is convinced it’s all a dream and just wants to wake up and mo st of the local’s think she’s not the right Alice, as it’s foretold that an Alice will come and slay the Jabberwocky, a gigantic Dragon type creature. And she eventually learns, her true destiny is to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror and indeed get it on with the Jabberwocky.
Alice in Wonderland, from a visual perspective, is certainly Tim Burton’s finest work. I’d imagine if you opened his head and climb in, this is what’s inside there. The sense of scale here is second to none. So much so, that its a head trip trying to figure out who and what is normal height and who has shrunk and so on. After a few minutes of this brain numbing madness, you have no choice but to just give in, as you are absorbed into this stunning looking world. All the Burton trademarks are here from the crazy looking characters to tree’s with the branches sporting the Burton spiral. The character design is off the wall, as you’d expect from Tim Burton. Large heads, small bodies, small fat bodies, large heads and so forth. Special mention must also go to the monkeys, who are everything from table legs to candle holders. While they are mainly background objects, it shows beautiful attention to detail. Alice in Wonderland is one of the visually spectacular movies you’ll see this year.
The performances from the many characters are also quite good. Matt Lucas excels in his 2 character role, with quick, snide remarks and a nervousness that borders on cute. Helena Bonham Carter (the Red Queen) is thoroughly convincing as some uber, demented, omnipotent ruler. The role of royalty does indeed suit the long time partner of Burton. But for me, Johnny Depp steals the show. In a performance that is absolutely bat shit crazy, the Mad Hatter is a very dark, schizophrenic character, surrounding himself with an asylum load of rodents and sub humans. . Switching accents in the blink of an eye, and having a quaint nervousness not seen since the days of Jack Sparrow, the Mad Hatter is uniquely likeable. On the down side, Mia Wasikowska, is not at all likeable, and her performance feels for the best part, false and forced. When she speaks she seems uncomfortable, and she doesn’t look at all comfortable in the role of Alice.
So, for the best part, Alice in Wonderland is so far so good. Well, it is until you actually watch it. Putting the visuals to one side and Depp’s performance, there is not a great story here at all. If there was as much time went into the story as the visuals, this could well be a very different review. The movie doesn’t hold together as it darts all over the place and it doesn’t flow the way it should. On occasion, I actually found myself to be a bit bored and wondering when it was all going to end. As for the 3D, Wonderland is a movie that was shot in 2D and then converted into 3D. Besides a little bit of depth, this is a movie that you could nearly watch the 3D verion, without the 3D glasses!! In hindsight, I wish I went off to see the 2D version instead!
Overall, Alice in Wonderland is visually stunning and Johnny Depp is delightfully demented, but there’s not a whole lot holding the thing together which is a shame!
