Alice in Wonderland

Starring: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen (voice), Stephen Fry (voice), Alan Rickman (voice)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Alice (Mia Wasikowska) travels down to Underland, where she meets the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) while getting into the middle of a conflict between the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

Review:

Tim: Tim Burton created a new vision of "Alice in Wonderland," in typical Burton fashion. The movie is oftentimes a phantasmagoric wonderland of strange and unbelievable sights and creatures. Burton deserves a great deal of credit for creating such a world, as well as a legitimate story out of a tale that is often described as a girl going from one strange encounter to another. This movie definitely has a coherent story, thanks to the writers and to Burton. Unfortunately, there are some equally disappointing aspects as well.

When I finished watching this movie, I really had to think about how I felt. On the one hand, I was very impressed with the vision and the creativity of Burton. He does indeed create an impressive wonderland for our characters to inhabit. However, there were some pretty big problems I had with the movie as well. As I thought about it more, I realized that while visually this is an impressive movie, so many other thematic elements were lacking. I didn't really enjoy this movie nearly as much as I should have.

This movie never felt as effective as it could have been. Burton is the master of creating strange, wonderful, visionary films, but underneath those elements, this movie felt like it was lacking real substance. The story was fine, but never really compelling or engaging. I never loved the characters or their struggles. I was certainly interested, but the emotional impact was absent.

I was actually a bit disappointed in Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. I appreciate Depp's desire to embrace the weird and the quirky, and to take his performances beyond the realms most actors are comfortable working in. However, it almost feels like too much at this point. Burton and Depp gave the Mad Hatter much, much more to do in this film- not because it helped the story, but because it would give Depp more time to do his thing on screen. This whole thing felt a bit forced. I don't think parts should be made bigger to accommodate the actor- it should be able story first.

While we are talking about Johnny Depp, I'll say that I wasn't a huge fan of his performance. It certainly fits in line with his other quirky roles, but I didn't love him here. He was fine, but the whole thing felt a bit forced. This felt like a role he took because it would let him live up to the expectations placed on him, not a role he really should have embraced for its own merits. Plus, on a side note, I don't like that Depp received top billing when he was clearly a supporting actor. You can't have it both ways.

I did very much enjoy Mia Wasikowska as Alice. Wasikowska seems to have real depth as a character, and her screen presence was impressive. For such a young actress, she delivered a performance that suggested she was wise beyond her years. I thought she was brilliantly cast as Alice, and gave a wonderful performance. She was easily my favorite aspect of the entire film.

The supporting cast is fine, but not great. I understand why Helena Bonham Carter was cast, and she mostly works as the Red Queen. I felt like she went a bit over-the-top, but I'm never a huge fan of hers, so that might have biased me a bit. Anne Hathaway looked very impressive as the White Queen, but I thought her performance was silly in all the wrong ways. Just because she was in a Burton film didn't mean she needed to embrace her weird side. Sometimes less in more, and I thought she should have showed some restraint in the part. Crispin Glover was fine, but didn't add much to the overall film, other than the "Hey, that's Crispin Glover!" aspect.

It is entirely possible that I am just getting tired of the whole Burton-Depp quirkiness aspect of these films. I appreciate a director having a vision and staying true to that vision, especially if it is original and unique. However, this whole thing is starting to feel very old. Why be different just for the sake of being different? I believe if Burton concentrated more on making a great movie and less on being so "different" and "edgy," this might have been better. While I am being hard on this film (I cannot fathom even for a second that this film made over $1 billion globally), I admit that there are many good aspects of this movie also. I do love seeing unique and interesting visions and interpretations of previous work. I thought the special effects were mostly very good. The voice cast was incredibly strong. However, when you add it all up, it just felt like something was missing. Burton gets close to creating a good movie here, but was quite a ways off from creating a classic. I liked many aspects of this movie, but there were just too many that I did not. I think this is an overrated film, and it makes me think that Burton and Depp need to put some distance between each other, at least for a little while.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland (1951), Edward Scissorhands, The Princess Diaries