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I’ve always thought that Lewis Carroll must have been on drugs, and now I’m sure of it. Tim Burton too. Lately I’ve grown tired of Tim Burton’s (Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) over-stylized visual flair, but after seeing Alice in Wonderland, where Alice is actually in Underland, I believe that this movie is the perfect outlet for Tim Burton’s crazy.
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This story is slightly different than previous version of Alice in Wonderland. It’s a strange hybrid of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and rarely resembles the Disney cartoon version that I grew up knowing and trusting as the only version of the story I would ever need. With Mia Wasikowska (Defiance, Amelia) as Alice, the rich girl who walks away from her “perfect” life to fall down the rabbit hole, Johnny Depp (every Tim Burton movie) as the Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter (also every Tim Burton movie) as the Queen of Hearts, the movie sets itself up as anyone who knows the story would expect.
The most disturbing thing about this movie wasn’t the crazy world with talking animals, or the rampant beheadings, as one might expect, but was Johnny Depp’s inability to blink. He has huge eyes, with all sorts of crazy makeup, which draw incredible attention to his eyes, but he never blinks. Strange.
Besides Depp’s eyes, the movie isn’t full of that many surprises or oddities, but it does have some great special effects combining animation with live action, and that’s where this film really shines. It comes with the hookah-smoking caterpillar, disappearing Cheshire Cat, and walking talking playing cards. We’ve seen it all before, but you’ve never seen it like this. Combine the Corpse Bride with the 1950’s cartoon version of Alice and mix in a little Sleepy Hollow, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’ll be seeing.
Because it was fairly predictable, but also because it was done in a new enjoyable way, I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars. I think it will lose a lot of its flare on the small screen, so check it out while it’s in the theatre.
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