by Troy Gustafson Rating: 8 reels
There are three famous movies in film history that Tim Burton was destined to re-make. At this point he has yet to direct only one of them to fulfill his destiny. The first is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", the second is "The Wizard of Oz" and the third is "Alice in Wonderland". Of course he has done other acid trip films but these are films that begged him to revisit in his way. There is no question Tim Burton is a master of the odd, and "Alice in Wonderland" is the perfect movie for him to go to town.
Now before seeing "Alice", I worried that this was going to turn out to be "The Mad Hatter" as opposed to "Alice in Wonderland", My fears were mostly due to Disney swinging their crown jewel in everybody's faces. That crown jewel being the great Johnny Depp. Additionally Depp is also connected to Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter like an adopted son or the meat in a Burton sandwich. Surprisingly both the Burtons and Depp let this movie be Alice's story, and not the Hatter's.
Most of us know that Alice visited Wonderland or should I say "Underland" as a child and was chased about by the red queen trying to remove her little blonde head. This version of "Alice" reminds one of Alice's first visit but gives today's audience more in a new trip instead of simply retelling the old story. Much like Robin William's Peter (Pan) Banning in "Hook", a nearly twenty year old Alice knows of Wonderland from a reoccuring dream but has no real memory of it. On a day when Alice must make a life changing decision in front of her friends and family the White Rabbit again leads Alice down the rabbit hole.
In Alice's first 3-D heavy scene, everything but the kitchen sink flies past Alice as she falls down the endless rabbit hole. This scene is absolutely awesome with the exception of the speed of Alice's fall making it hard for me to really make out what was flying out at her (and me). Once again Alice is confronted with a combination of bottles and cakes and keys and doors that she must use in the right sequence to get into Wonderland from the bottom of the hole. The entire scaling dynamic is so well done that it made me believe that Alice was really changing size in that room.
Once in Wonderland, the story becomes a new one with neuences from the original. Alice is met by several of her earlier counterparts such as the Tweedles and the Doe Doe Bird who are hoping Alice will rescue Underland (as the inhabitants call it) from the evil globe headed Red Queen, masterfully played by Helena Bonham Carter. Since Alice is now older however, her friends don't believe she is the real Alice. The only one who can tell if Alice is the true Alice is the incredibly well animated bong smoking Blue Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman). The real Alice is prophesied in a scroll to be the one to rescue Underland from the horrible flying Jabberwocky that the Queen controls. Of course the dope smoker doesn't try very hard to convince Alice of her identity, and Alice doesn't think she's the real Alice now anyway. Enter the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) on horseback who attacks with his deck of warrior cards and giant shark toothed attack cat. The Knave learns of the prophesy of Alice and returns his news to the Red Queen who demands Alice's head. Alice must find the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to save Underland from the wickedness of the Red Queen and her destructive Jabberwocky.
The story is not complex, in fact it's just a twist on the original, but Tim Burton makes this movie both his own and something we've never seen before on film. In a page right out of the "Avatar" handbook, the scenery is incredible, the characters are amazing, and the audience lives this movie with the characters. Today's digital technology has finally come to a point where animation and live action can actually live and breathe together in three dimensions without the audience having to suppress belief because of poor effect compositing. The actors features were all deformed in one way or another with the exception of Alice and the White Queen, and it looked right. Crispin Glover was tall and skinny with a tiny evil head, the Red Queen had a monstrous head and small body, The Mad Hatter's eyes were huge, but all of these oddities looked real and made Underland a true Wonderland. All of the things that make animation work such as squish, stretch and exaggeration are now possible with living actors. I have to believe when Tim Burton goes to sleep at night he sees what I saw in "Alice in Wonderland", and that is a huge part of why this movie is so good. The director can now get his or her complete vision onto the screen with absolute accuracy and Tim Burton took advantage of that the right way.
The cast of Alice was perfect, although Jonny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are a packaged set with Tim Burton, they are great at what they do. Carter is incredible as the Red Queen. Her childlike selfish qualities in this movie are hilarious. The Mad Hatter is no Jack Sparrow, but still a good performance. I have to believe that the Hatter is that way though by Depp's design. Johnny Depp could have by any stretch of the imagination stolen any scene he was in but he didn't, which is another testament to his true talent as an actor. Crispin Glover is another stand out actor in this movie. His creepy Knave of Hearts was scary but fun at the same time. Alice of course played by newcomer Mia Wasikowska is believeable and she holds her own in the presence of great seasoned actors in a virtual environment which had to be difficult. Her transition from young girl full of questions to a strong woman ready for anything was incredible. Anne Hathaway's White Queen was a bit cardboard and unfeeling to me, not bad but not what I have come to expect from her. Maybe it was meant to be that way but I found myself not caring about her and she is the one who used to rule the land.
Overall the story is well written, the acting was good and the effects made me feel like I was in Wonderland. I would liked to have seen some of the 3-d slowed down so I could understand what was flying at me more than once, and I would have liked to have cared more for the White Queen. I am giving Alice in Wonderland a solid 8.
Go see it asap...
Troy
