Alice in Wonderland

Tagline: You've got a very important date.

So this movie looked like it had great potential since it could prove to be a perfect mixture of two of the most vivid imaginations of recent history: Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll. It promised to bring an interesting world to the screen to say the least.







The plot follows a now 19 year old Alice, played by newcomer Mia Wasikowska, who returns to Wonderland, or Underland should I say, after attending a surprise engagement party thrown for her benefit. After she receives a very unromantic proposal from her suitor, she follows the white rabbit down the rabbit hole which leads to Underland. We soon find familiar characters of the original story and Alice is set down a path to win the freedom of the Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp, from the evil Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter. In order to restore balance and peace to Underland, she must defeat the infamous Jaberwocky, a gruesome dragon and restore the crown to the White Queen, played by Anne Hathaway, and younger sister of the Red Queen.






It’s important to note that the plot does not follow the original Alice in Wonderland or even Through the Looking Glass. Tim Burton had said that he never felt a connection in previous versions and that Alice seemed to go through a sequence of events and meet different characters at each point and therefore he wanted to create a real storyline which I think he pulled off. The story pulls all the characters together and creates a running storyline in which everyone plays a part. He kept in all the fun parts of the original story, i.e. painting the roses, the flamingo croquet, the tea party etc, but also created a new story to follow so we wouldn’t be bored following the same story which has been told time and time again. Enough time was given to each of the characters and it really seemed to encompass the whole story with all the elements that have withered the test of time.






This movie was effects-driven and a lot hindered on how Burton’s ‘Wonderland’ came out. The effects were great and really created a whole new world. It wasn’t too dark or too candy coated. I think Burton found a nice balance in the middle of the two. The Cheshire Cat was amazing, as was the Red Queen. The effects really created the tone and mood of the story. The editing was nicely done and it kept a nice pace throughout the movie as did the score. I’m glad to see that Danny Elfman has regained my opinion from his last venture on The Wolfman. The score was not overly ominous or fanfare-ish. The effects had the potential to come out extremely dark i.e. Nightmare Before Christmas, or too over the top whimsical, i.e. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but he seemed to find the right place with the effects.






I think Helena Bonham Carter did a great job with the Red Queen. She delivered her lines in an interesting way, which really made the character unique. Johnny Depp was Johnny Depp. He did great and created a very vibrant character, as usual. It doesn’t matter if his accent changed at different spots in the movie, he is half mad after all and Johnny Depp can do no wrong, especially seeing as this is the 7th movie they have worked on together, beating out Mrs. Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter at 6. Anne Hathaway did good with her role and I actually found her portrayal subliminally humorous. Wasikowska definitely looked the part and did a nice job seeing as it was her first leading role in a major motion picture. She did play a little more subdued than the usually animated Alice, especially because nothing seemed to surprise or upset her but it wasn’t unbelievable and didn’t take away from the whole picture.






Overall, the film was very entertaining and did not disappoint. It was visually pleasing and provided a new story to watch unfold. It had the same tone and characteristics of the past versions but was a completely different Wonderland and was extremely vibrant and beautiful. The effects were smooth and nicely done. The performances were great and in keeping with the movie. This movie had the potential to really just go off the deep end but Tim Burton seems to have found the right formula with this movie. I think he has realized that doing a straight remake will lead to failure. I will add that the dance at the end of the movie almost changed this entire review. The business decision should have been made to remove that scene from the movie but it can be overlooked since the rest of the movie more than made up for it. “I usually think of six impossible things before breakfast”.