Alice In Wonderland review (PG)
Is she the right Alice? Give her a chance...
TOTAL FILM RATING USER RATING (11 users)
BY: Kevin Harley Mar 5th 2010 FILED UNDER: Cinema reviews
As lopped heads bob in the Red Queen’s (Helena Bonham Carter, shouty) moat and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway, wispy) mixes potions from old fingers, the theoretically perfect fit of Tim Burton to Lewis Carroll’s skewed surrealism seems perfect in practice, too. As Burton “re-imaginings” go, it’s no stinking Apes. It’s closer to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, touting sweet scoff for the eyes but struggling to provide a story with the intended emotional weight.
Linda Woolverton’s script aims to put sense into Carroll’s ‘uncommon nonsense’. This Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is 19, quick, clever. Escaping a public, unwanted marriage proposal, she tails our frisky rabbit down to the ‘Underland’ (ouch!) of her childhood dreams. The bulbous-bonced Red now rules, psychotically. Alice must face the despot’s beastly Jabberwocky and Find Her True Destiny. And yes, that is the old cheese of self-discovery subtexts you can smell.
But Burton isn’t one to fret over story when there’s eye-candy to cook. That’s Alice’s USP. Charging round his latest alt-world with the fervour of a “frumious Bandersnatch”, Burton potently tethers hallucinogenic 3D detail to lunging action. Cheshire Cat’s vapour-trails, Blue Caterpillar’s fuzz and light-refracting mushrooms blossom; in motion, a beastie’s rampage makes the undergrowth explode, a dog-ride dizzies the senses and the March Hare’s table-trashing has you ducking. The screen screams “EAT ME”.
Impressively, the cast hold their own. Bonham Carter gives good brat, Matt Lucas is decently deadpan as both Tweedles and Wasikowska’s every-girl registers likeably. Top spot-the-voice presences include Babs Windsor (paint-stripping Dormouse shriek) and Alan Rickman (out-of-his-gourd Caterpillar). As for Burton’s wing-man, Johnny Depp flares vividly as a carrot-topped Hatter, colours undulating to his moods like a DayGlo Rorschach test. Formulaic closing battle and plot-frame aside, this mad menagerie is freakishly fun to escape to.
Verdict:
A new plot swaps Carroll’s madness for Hollywood requisites but the visuals, wit, full-pelt pacing and game casting compensate.
Print User Reviews (11)
jaykays hat
Not very good,it bored me. Burton really needs to start upping his game.
User rating: 2
Posted Mar 8th 2010 // 6:21PMAlert a moderator
beck79
I didn't really have high expectations for this film and after watching it, I wasn't wrong. Depp and Burton have become completely predictable and in the worst way. Burton seems to be clinging onto his style but has totally lost how to make a good film. I think the fudderwhack (or whatever it's called) speaks for the whole film.
User rating: 2
Posted Mar 12th 2010 // 1:26PMAlert a moderator
AJK87
A real let down, particularly in terms of the 3D.. or lack of it. Having read the book you'd think the material would suit the style Burton portrays but hes mashed elements from everywhere together and hasn't done Carrol justice. The saving grace was good casting on the voiced characters, hence the extra star!
User rating: 3
Posted Mar 12th 2010 // 9:43PMAlert a moderator
TheJokerDC
Being a Burton film, I was expecting a measure of twisted and strange cinema, but it just didn't engage me as much as I would of liked. Not to worry, Hatter was still quality.
User rating: 3
Posted Mar 19th 2010 // 2:09PMAlert a moderator
captainchod
I went in expecting very little and was actually pleasantly surprised - I really enjoyed it throughout!
User rating: 4
Posted Apr 9th 2010 // 3:04PMAlert a moderator
sctrob
I love Tim Burton's films because he has his own style and fantastic imagaination. Everyone knows his style from the types of movies he has directed like edward scissorhands and charlie and the chocolate factory therefore by going to is movies you should have a good idea of what to expect. Instead of writing a bad review why not just give his next movie a miss and leave it to the people who appriciate Burtons vision for what it is - Truly spectacular!
User rating: 5
Posted Jun 4th 2010 // 12:46PMAlert a moderator
abbasmomin
I don't think there's any way that Tim Burton can go wrong with the visual treatment of a film. Alice in Wonderland looks,& feels amazingly brilliant.The old story of the girl falling down a hole following a rabbit unknowingly entering the fantasy world of 'underland' written by Lewis Carroll still holds strong. Something like 'Alice' is tailor made for Burton. As anything unusually good-looking has earned the title of being called 'Burton-esque'.So not surprisingly the art direction dept.scores brownie points. PERFORMANCES:- Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen with a humongous bulbous face absolutely steals the show.She's one actress who has an arresting presence no matter what role she's playing.It's been a while since i've seen a caricaturish,story-bookish,rude,cruel & unjust Queen done this brilliantly. Johnny Depp lives up to the acting standards that he has set for himself as the at times boisterous,at times subdued but always loyal Mad hatter. This ain't no Willy Wonka or Jack Sparrow caliber role but then again Depp like he has done on numerous occasions before induces mannerisms,movements,& speech which provide a personification to the iconic fictional character. Anne Hathaway has little to do as the overly sophisticated white queen living in her pristine white castle but still manages to make a strong mark on your minds in the little screen time that she possesses & is brilliant as usual. Unfortunately though the title character of Alice played by Mia Wasikowska does not invoke the desired response. Throughout the movie she seems a very confused & a somewhat meek character (which is ironical,as the story's based upon her).As the title character I expected a more convincing screen presence from her. CGI:- The visual effects look terrific,not for once looking out of place,rough or plastic (shame on you 'clash of the titans').The CGI characters look fantastic.The white rabbit,the dormouse,the blue caterpillar Absolem (brilliantly voiced by the ever dependable Alan Rickman) all look exceptional,but the 2 that absolutely stand out are the mumbling-bumbling fat twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) & the sarcastically smiling furry Cheshire cat (Stephen Fry). CONS:- On the downside though I do agree that the narrative structure has been sacrificed (especially for the climax) Also I didn't feel much of an emotional connect with the film,as much as say compared to 'Big Fish' or 'Edward Scissorhands',both Burton masterpieces.Some sequences are really good like the Hatter & Alice talking on the balcony before the war or Hatter describing the atrocities committed by the Red Queen. But at other times it felt the story was going forward just for the sake of progressing. 3-D treatment:- The 3-D treatment of the film is pretty good,& was aesthetically done (again unlike 'Clash').There's much fun to be had in scenes where Alice is falling down the hole,Absolem blowing smoke in Alice's (& our) face,& Alice's encounter with the little creatures popping up in front of our faces every now & then. FINAL VERDICT:- All in all 'Alice' is worth a trip to Wonderland :)
User rating: 3
Posted Jun 19th 2010 // 9:15AMAlert a moderator
Film Details
- Release Date Mar 5th 2009
- Certificate PG
- Genre
- Starring
- Director
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