RSSAlice in Wonderland Review
Mar 08
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The second half of Alice in Wonderland, the new film by the Tim Burton machine, is vastly better than the first half. Maybe it’s because the movie’s first hour relies heavily on the Disney source material and comes across as Tim Burton doing Disney instead of Tim Burton doing Alice in Wonderland. But once Burton’s hybrid plot picks up steam, so does the film. The result is a fun PG romp through a Disney classic.
Any time Tim Burton directs a movie, you can expect a few givens. One, roles for Burton-favorites Johnny Depp and the exquisite Helena Bonham Carter. Two, manic landscapes that make your eyes water. Three, one or two moments of majestic filmmaking that just take your breath away.
Alice in Wonderland is a recreation of the classic Disney animated cartoon mixed with the Lewis Carroll source material Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and Burton’s own inescapable imagination. It all works largely because Burton is a master of making zany “safe” and in part because of Mia Wasikowska, who plays the jaded Alice to perfection. The scenery and animation are flawless centerpieces at a table set for all the craziness the movie can handle. In retrospect, its impressive that Burton managed to keep the entire affair PG-appropriate, but Alice is entirely safe for all ages. The amount of violence is minimal and flies by so fast there’s no chance to even absorb it. The movie effectively manages to disguise large chunks of dialogue and introduce dozens of characters without ever slowing up the pace, keeping kids and adults alike engaged.
If you don’t know the story, Alice falls down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland. In this case, it’s Alice’s second trip to Wonderland but her memory of her first trip is a little fuzzy. That’s really all you need to know. Alice meets a lot of characters along the way, including the White Queen played by Anne Hathaway and Depp’s take on The Mad Hatter. Just take it all in. There are a lot of names and a lot of things happening and chances are that at least once during the film, you won’t have a clue what Johnny Depp is actually saying. The plot itself is pretty straightforward. Alice is being recruited to save Wonderland from the Red Queen and pretty much everyone is rooting for her.
The new trend of turning every movie into RealD is more of a distraction to Alice in Wonderland than a bonus. The level of visual detail Burton puts into his film is washed out in 3D and the moments where the 3D effect really shine are few and far between.
