First things first, don’t let the name fool you if you are a fan of the book. This is its own story. While the characters and even storyline may be familiar this film is more an amalgamation of all of the parts of the wonderland mythos than a retelling of any one of the existing stories tales.
Alice Kingsley is a 19 year old with her head in the clouds living in Victorian England, who has had dreams about rabbits in waistcoats and talking caterpillars since she was a young girl. The story begins with Alice going to a party at the estate of her late father’s business partner, little does she know that the party is actually a surprise engagement party, for her. She is expected to wed Hamish Ascott, a young, slightly disgusting, Lord, whom Alice has no interest in marrying. Just before Hamish is to propose Alice is taken aside by Hamish’s witch of a mother, while they walk through the gardens Alice spots the rabbit from her dreams running through the garden. Alice returns to the party and is brought in front of the crowd for Hamish’s proposal, while he proposes Alice spots the rabbit in a waistcoat again and runs off leaving Hamish on his knees mid proposal. Alice follows the rabbit to his hole and falls in after him landing in Wonderland. From here Alice finds out that she is to slay the Jabberwocky, the red queen’s dragon, on what’s known as the Frabjous day. Alice starts on her quest with the help of all the familiar characters including the Mad Hatter, the Chessur cat, and Bayard a talking bloodhound. Alice battles not just the Red Queen’s minons but also herself in determining whether this is all a dream or if it’s real, and her compatriots questions as to whether she truly is the REAL Alice or not. This film is a mixture of the original ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and its sequel ‘Through the Looking Glass’ with some fresh material thrown in for good measure. So does this new take on the classic tale stand up, or fall flat?
I would be remiss if I didn’t start my critique of this film by saying that I’ve never been particularly into ‘Alice in Wonderland’, the story itself is just a touch too out there but it did have a certain magic to it. This new incarnation comes to us from Tim Burton, probably the only person in Hollywood off his rocker enough to capture the insanity that is Wonderland. What you get with Burton at the helm is not far off form what you might expect with crazy colors, gothic architecture, and characters that look right out a 19th century vaudeville freak show. The design is amazing and Burton is a perfect fit for the world that he had to create for this film, I’m not sure that anyone else could’ve done Wonderland visual justice the way Burton does. As is usual when you have Tim Burton on a project you’ve already got part of your cast pre planned with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Depp is amazing as the Mad Hatter and unsurprisingly is the highlight of the film. At first I had a problem with Depp’s portrayal as he seemed to switch accents every five minutes from Scottish, to British, to some kind of baby talk. It took me a moment to realize that this is all part of Depp’s genious as an actor given that the hatter is mad why wouldn’t he have multiple personalities? Bonham Carter (or is it just Carter?) is a nice fit for the Red Queen with just the right mix of evil and insecurity. It’s always tricky when you mix live action with as much CGI as this movie uses but they pull it off almost flawlessly. The live action characters are all made up in a way to blend seamlessly with even the most out there of computer generated characters. Speaking of the CGI characters it’s quite amazing what they do with the characters that are BOTH CGI and live action. Whether it’s making Crispin Glovers Naïve of Hearts appear to be seven and a half feet tall, or turning Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen appear to be 3 feet tall with a gigantic head they execute the visual look wonderfully. The climactic battle scene between the Anne Hathaway’s White Queen and the wretched Red Queen is somewhat awe inspiring. It was the one part of the movie in which I really felt engrossed in the film; the scene also brings another level to Depp’s Mad Hatter making him a warrior instead of just a mental patient, which was really cool to see. Not surprisingly the score is very Tim Burton with lots of dramatic strings with high pitched choral accompaniment and fits the tone of the film perfectly. I know I’ve said a lot about Burton but it’s well deserved as I don’t think anyone else could capture the look and feel of this world as well as he does, even with all of this the film misses the mark, it isn’t playing with a full deck, so to speak.
My main problem with the film was that it lacked that certain magic. The movie creates a wondrous world that is at the far reaches of imagination but there’s something missing. That certain something that you can’t put words to, that something that removes you from the theater and transports you to the world you’re watching on screen, this movie just didn’t have it. I may have been the 3D format in which I viewed the film, I must say that what ‘Avatar’ did to further 3D ‘Alice in Wonderland’ undoes. There was no added benefit to adding the third dimension and really it only served to make the film harder to see and somewhat headache inducing which totally removes you from the moment instead of immersing you in it. As is usually the case with Crispin Glover he is underused and almost wasted here. It’s truly unfortunate as his personality and style of acting is perfect for his character, the Naïve of Hearts, commander of the Red Queens playing card army. Mia Wasikowska isn’t horrible as Alice but she really doesn’t bring much to the character that’s not already in the script. The White Queen, played by Anne Hathaway, doesn’t hold the polarized personality to the Red Queen that you feel they were trying to show. They make a lot of noise about how she loves every creature and cannot kill any living thing, but they do not take the proper measures or allot the proper amount of screen time to show just her good to the Red Queen’s evil. Moving on to the non human characters, I made mention of how good the CGI was, however it was far from flawless. Two of the film’s most fear inducing CGI creatures, the Jaberwocky and the Bandersnatch, are made less intimidating by the fact that they appear more cartoonish than everything around them. I also have to take issue with the cop out they used to make Alice accept her destiny. Throughout the film Alice is resistant to the prophecy that she is to save Underland, (Oh yeah, it’s underland. They explain that Alice was simply mispronouncing it as Wonderland when she first came as a child), she believes the whole world is a dream, all the while it’s residents believe that she isn’t even the same Alice that was foretold. This is all wrapped up in about five minutes of screen time after a short conversation with Absolem, the wise caterpillar, voiced by the amazing Alan Rickman. It just seemed like something she should have begun to accept slowly over the course of the movie rather than after a two minute conversation.
Let's start the final thought here with a quick disclaimer to anyone thinking of bringing their young children to this movie; It can be quite visually disturbing and there is some real violence and intensity even if it is computer generated. It may be too much for some kids, so if your child is easily frightened you may want to think twice before taking them. With that being said, I honestly don’t know what to say to true fans of the Wonderland series. Not being one of you, I’m not sure how you’ll take Burton’s version. You may very well see some of the magic that I found so horribly absent. For the casual viewer however, I’m not to certain a trip to Wonderland is in your best interest. Without that certain something you just end up watching what amounts to a two hour freak show painted pretty colors. The story outside of what we already know is a very generic quest story that leaves you unsatisfied. Outside of Johnny Depp’s performance there really isn’t much of a reason to see this film. I cannot stress this enough DO NOT see this film in 3D, there is not a single positive thing I can say about the 3D in this film and could go on for hours about the drawbacks. This is usually the type of film that I would recommend you see in theaters if for no other reason than its grandeur, but I cannot in good conscience do that now. The film is not worth $10 out of your entertainment budget and if you feel you must see it, do so in a couple months when it’s on DVD.
2 out of 5 Guttenbergs
