Review: Alice In Wonderland

Alice In Wonderland

OPENING: 03/05/2010

STUDIO: Disney

RUN TIME: 109 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
You’ve Got A Very Important Date.

Opening Statement
Alice In Wonderland‘s assortment of charming and kooky characters and breathtaking visuals and animation are well worth the price of admission. However, consider yourself forewarned. If you spend too much time only concentrating on the visual aspects of this film, you will be lost and confused trying to follow this story. Though not as bad as the book, there is a lot of nonsense and randomness throughout the entire movie, and entering the theatre without an open, thinking mind will result in you dismissing this film as nonsensical, when it really isn’t.

Facts of the Case
Alice Kingsley (Mia Wasikowska, Amelia) is without a doubt a spitting image of her father. Unsatisfied by living a typical, ordinary life, Alice dreams of remarkable, impossible things; she doesn’t want her life planned out for her like everybody else’s is. At a surprise engagement party for her, Alice notices a white rabbit (Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon) dressed strangely in a waistcoat turning a corner. Intrigued by this strange sight, Alice goes to follow him, but in the process falls down a rabbit hole and ends up in the whimsical land called Underland.

She eventually makes zany new acquaintances, all who remember her from a previous visit. Alice has no recollection of this visit whatsoever, leading her to believe that she is stuck in a dream she can’t wake from. They reveal to her a special calendar that tells the future, where she learns she must slay a fearsome monster known as the Jabberwocky, a beast owed by the tyrannical Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd) who torments Underland’s residents.

With the fate of Underland resting in her hands, Alice must come to her senses, and believe in herself in order to slay the beast and return rule of Underland to the kind and gentle White Queen (Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married).

The Evidence
First and foremost, it needs to be noted that from a visual standpoint, this movie is amazing. The scenes that take place in England are rather pedestrian, but the moment Alice finds herself descending through the rabbit’s hole into Underland, the movie takes off. As we all know, director Tim Burton is a cinematic deity when comes to making a movie unique visually. This film is in no way an exception. Underland is a masterpiece of CGI, which is relied upon very heavily in this movie. The range of colors is absolutely fantastic, and the outdoor scenes in the film are just bright and beautiful sights to see. CGI also created memorable characters such as the White Rabbit, Absolem the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry, Kingdom), and Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas, Little Britain). All of these characters are more of the supporting role variety, but each has their own unique allure and are guaranteed to make lasting impressions upon moviegoers.

As far as the leading roles are concerned, Burton-veteran Johnny Depp (Public Enemies) plays one hell of a Mad Hatter. Depp’s makeup, hair, and outfit are absolutely genius in a wild and crazy sort of way that only Tim Burton can capture. The Hatter talks in many different voices and tones, capturing the madness of the loony Mad Hatter to a T. As usual, another excellent performance by Mr. Depp. Wasikowska as Alice didn’t do a whole lot for me. I felt she was kind of dull and made a pretty drowsy protagonist with her lack of emotion and feeling. But looks wise, you can certainly see why she was cast. Bonham Carter played a very good totalitarian, barking orders left and right and screaming her head off from start to finish. At times the constant yelling and screaming was a tad annoying, she reminded me a spoiled little child in a toy store who isn’t getting his or her way. But, I suppose being a ruthless Queen in the literature, that’s just what the character had to do in order to be realistic.

Now as far as Alice In Wonderland‘s story is concerned, this is an aspect that can lead patrons to disliking the movie. In order to avoid this, I think it has to be understood what kind of content is actually found inside the books Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the two books Burton has based his movie on. These stories, which were penned by Lewis Carroll, are arguably the two biggest representatives of the genre “Literary Nonsense.” They are exactly what the genre says they are, a bunch of garbled nonsense, thrown together to make a story that severely lacks direction, and all in all doesn’t make any sense at all. Burton wanted his movie to stray away from that. He said he wanted his movie to feel like it was telling a story, unlike the books where random events are just happening with no explanation or reasoning as to why they are happening.

For what Burton chose to work with, he did a great job. It couldn’t have been easy to write this script. I for one feel that turning literary nonsense into a major motion picture might just be the hardest thing to do in all of cinema. Tip your hat to Burton, because he did it, and he did it beautifully. Did he do it perfectly? Personally, no. There is still some aimless dialogue and it could frustrate patrons that don’t have an open mind and want their hands held while trying to follow the movie’s plot. But depending on whom you are, you may wind up seeing this as a hat tip to Lewis Carroll, giving the movie that authentic “nonsensical” feeling. Alice In Wonderland seems like a book that was just begging for Burton to make into a movie, since his movies and Carroll’s visions both share that same “trippy” sensation. Now that Burton’s done it, go see it. It’ll all make sense at the end, and your eyes will be grateful that you did.

Closing Statement
Marketed extremely heavily since summertime, Alice In Wonderland is first and foremost a visual delight that will not let you down. From a story standpoint, you could wind up feeling like you’re on whatever it was Lewis Carroll was on when he penned his nonsense, if you allow the visuals to be the only thing you pay attention to. Open your minds like Alice, and take this trip with her down the rabbit’s hole into Underland. If you don’t, the Red Queen may sick the Jabberwocky on you and holler “Off with your head!” You wouldn’t want that would you?

The Verdict
8/10

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