, I imagine it not as a dingy sewer but as a darker, more twisted Wonderland. Tim Burton, the most distinctive visual director working today, immediately puts his own stamp on the classic tale. Not with the film's look, but by adding a nifty wrinkle into Alice's adventure. Here, she's no longer the little girl whisked away through the rabbit hole. It's 13 years later, and Alice is a strong willed woman being forced into a marriage with a guy who's nose makes it appear that he always smells something awful. Alice has been having nightmares since childhood about a fantastical world full of wondrous creatures, but she has no idea why it's always the same dream every night. On the day when she is finally to marry this horrible lout of a potential mate, she runs off in pursuit of a vaguely familiar white rabbit and down the hole she goes.
There she finds that perhaps her dreams weren't really dreams afterall, but memories of a wonderful adventure undertaken as a child. She meets a wild assortment of characters pulled straight from the Caroll classic: the hooka smoking caterpillar, the bulbous and vertically challenged TweedleDee and TweedleDum, and of course the Hatter(Johnny Depp). There main purpose seems to lounge around talking in riddles. Makes me wonder what they were doing for the past 13 years Alice wasn't in town. They all have a bone to pick with the evil Red Queen(Helena Bonham Carter) and her planet sized head. The Red Queen seems more concerned with forming her own clique, and making sure her wisp of a sister, The White Queen(Anne Hathaway) stays out of power.
The world of Wonderland as presented by Burton features his trademark brilliant colors, but unfortunately I only noticed it when I lifted up my 3-D glasses. I speculated weeks ago that 3-D wasn't necessary for a Burton film because his images seem to jump off the screen already, and I was right. The effect adds nothing worth noting, except the extra $4 I paid. Do yourself a favor and see it in plain old, steam driven 2-D, because it is something to behold. Wonderland is both nightmarish and yet beautiful at the same time. The creatures range from cute little mice with swords the size of a pin to monstrous beasts. That's one of the coolest things about Wonderland, is that it can be all things at once, both hilarious and terrifying.
And yet I felt like there was something missing. I was surprised by how uneventful the whole story was. Much like Alice in Wonderland, the plot is barebones at best, looking more like a random series of events than an actual arc. Maybe it's me, but I miss the nonsensical writing style present in the novel. Lewis Caroll was the king of the nonsense form, afterall. This version seems all too straight forward. The Hatter didn't seem all that Mad, frankly. That's no knock on Johnny Depp. His Hatter is appropriately wacky and eccentric most of the time, but more subdued than I expected. I found his Willy Wonka to be a lot more disturbing. Mia Wasikowska(Defiance, Amelia) is pitch perfect as the brave, wide-eyed Alice.
Alice in Wonderland is a beautiful film to behold, filled with wonderful creatures and a perfect heroine that will keep you entertained....for awhile. It loses it's momentum, but that's no reason to deny yourself a truly one of a kind experience.
