Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, where she's reunited with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat and, of course, the Mad Hatter.
Back in Wonderland, Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true
destiny and to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.
Though Burton's combination of live action and computer-generated images is rated PG partly because of hookah smoking by the Blue Caterpillar, it seems unlikely hipsters will be lighting up to this all-too-earnest tale of female empowerment in the Victorian Era. This "Alice in Wonderland" incorporates characters from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," but the script by Linda Woolverton ("Beauty and the Beast") is really nothing more than a sequel.
Alice, who has forgotten her earlier adventures, goes down the rabbit hole
while fleeing an uptight suitor.
Mia Wasikowska, the bland Aussie actress playing Alice, has her best moments when she arrives in Wonderland, known by its denizens as Underland. The film's energy level picks up with the arrival of Bonham Carter's enormous-headed Red Queen, shouting a shrill variation on "Off With His Head" fairly often. She has taken the throne from her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).
I was disappointed at Depp's nonsense-spouting Mad Hatter because he was exceptional at playing a quite "mad" hatter. His portrayal was so mad, though, I found it difficult to understand most of his dialogue.
It is the Hatter who suggests to Alice that she pick up a sword to slay
queen's principal mode of terror, the dragon-like jabberwocky.
Most of the other characters, inspired by John Tenniel's original illustrations for Carroll's books, are computer-generated. The Blue Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman), Knave of Hearts (voiced by Crispin Glover), White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and Tweedledee/Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) are all there.
My rating aside, Burton does manage memorable moments like Alice crossing a moat on dead faces.
The climactic battle, played on a giant chessboard, is beautifully designed. The film was shot conventionally and later converted to 3-D, but the Disney magic is still more than evident. During the movie, I almost felt the need to reach up and pop a dew drop hanging from foliage as it seemed to pass over my head.
The movie isn't bad, but enjoyment requires a certain taste.
I'm not really a fan of Tim Burton and although this film is a good one, it didn't change my opinion about him.
2.5 Buckets
