Let me warn you upfront, Tim Burton fanatics, you probably won’t want to read this.
Reasons being, you’d see any of his films regardless of the plot or cast. And second, I’m not going to give it a dazzling review.
I read Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ growing up as a child. Next to the over-praised Harry Potter books, many would say Alice is hands-down the greatest children’s story ever written. Add to the equation the dark and quirky-minded Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and leading lady, Aussie ‘It’ Girl, Mia Wasikowska, it should go without saying then that this film is an irresistible invitation to pass up.
Tim Burton tries to create something the audience can care about in his 3-D extravaganza. However, his newest movie is more spectacle than story.
A young Alice lays in bed as her father leans in to tell her a secret. She’s been having odd dreams about a rabbit in a waistcoat, and questions if she’s losing her mind. He responds by telling her that crazy people are the most fun.
Now approaching 20 years of age, Alice faces the decisions of marrying someone she does not love in order to respect the traditions and customs of the time. In an effort to stall, she chases the White Rabbit and ends up falling down the hole we all know from the books.
Underworld is now ruled by the wicked Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and it’s up to Alice to fulfill prophecy and restore the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) back to power, bringing fairness and justice to the land.
Synopsis aside, where the film excels is the production design and acting performances. The world of Underland is vivid and surreal, filled with exotic plants, fascinating architecture and bizarre creatures. The costumes and sets are adapted very well from the original drawings, and with the added touch of 3-D seem to take the audience very realistically through the rabbit hole along with Alice.
Burton casts familiar faces in key roles. Johnny Depp, teaming with the director for the seventh time, plays the Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter is the Red Queen. Carter nearly steals the show here; her huge, heart-shaped head sits atop a tiny body as she shouts “off with her head” like a bad tick. Red Queen is deliciously egomaniacal. Combined with the CGI work to increase the size of her head, the acting tends to dominate any scene she’s in.
Alice infiltrates Red Queen’s castle in order to retrieve a sword that controls the kingdom, and put it into the benevolent hands of Red’s sister the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). Thus, Alice becomes a Joan of Arc heroine, and this story is ultimately about her finding her own gumption, aka her “muchness”.
Where the film misses its own “muchness,” is perhaps in the collaboration of Burton and Disney. The film is a little too dark for Disney. Instead, the film we get builds up to a battle climax that takes a page from Lord of the Rings. It’s still entertaining, but to me, the treasure to be found in Wonderland is its characters.
What audiences will come away with is that ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a visually impressive film, filled with odd and fun characters. The experience as a whole though feels incomplete and lacking. Anyone thinking that seeing this in IMAX 3-D and spending that extra $5 is a good thing will be disappointed. My advice, watch the 2-D version and spend that extra bit on popcorn and candy.
My final verdict: Average. I give Burton’s newest film 3 out of 5 stars over a cup of tea. It’s a fun trip mind you, but be prepared to be somewhat disappointed, as it doesn’t live up to its generated buzz.
Alice in Wonderland (2010) is Directed by Edward Scissorhands’ Tim Burton.
In theatres Friday, March 5.
I think you nailed it by saying that the real treasure of Wonderland is it’s characters and the movie somehow fell short in making them stand out.
I still found the movie enjoyable, my kid loved it and we also were able to get pop-corn and ice tea cuz we watched it in 2-D. :O)