Alice In Wonderland (Walt Disney Pictures)
Tim Burtons Bizarro Land
Many people avidly lap up any offering Tim Burton gives them okay maybe not Sweeny Todd. There is another group that detests everything he does. You just cant find a more polarizing director than Burton.
His trump card is the fact Johnny Depp loves to work with him as a collaborator and the stranger the role in which Burton casts Depp the more he likes it. Plus peoples admiration of Depp overcomes their aversion to Burton. Now you know why Alice In Wonderland, a silly and off putting film by Burton, is going to be a major hit.
Depp plays the Mad Hatter in Burtons version of the Lewis Carroll stories. He has brillo red hair and psychedelic eyes. He looks, acts and appears to be deranged but then has moments of lucidity. It is a wild and wooly performance in a bizarre and frenetic film.
This time out Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is a nineteen year old girl who runs away from a marriage proposal and falls down a hole and lands in Wonderland, or Underland as it is correctly named.. It seems she has been here before but cant remember that adventure. People keep telling her Welcome back but she recalls none of the details of her former trip.
In the convoluted story she meets the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and ends up fighting in a war between the Red Queen and her sister the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). She becomes the White Queens champion and does battle with Stayne, the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover). He represents the Red Queen.
The problem with the movie is it isnt funny. Plus even in 3-D the special effects just arent that special. After Avatar we have seen it all and a movie that features a rabbit in a waistcoat and an appearing and disappearing Cheshire Cat just isnt that impressive.
The actors, a side from Depp, arent terribly compelling either. Washikowska has no charisma which is sorely needed for the title character. Carter looks bizarre but her actions are more annoying that interesting. Hathaway looks gross and her fluttering actions are silly. Crispin Glover always seems to be playing Crispin Glover so nothing new there.
The film is rated PG for mild violence.
Small children will probably be bored to tears in this film which is aimed more at their parents than at them. Still parents will drag kids of all ages to see it thinking they are providing a treat. The requirement for 3-D glasses, the strangeness of the scenery and the characters, and the drawn out length of the story make it a movie to be endured rather than enjoyed. And where did that tacked on ending come from anyway
If you want to amuse your kids show them the old Disney animated version of Alice. That one was aimed at kids and was kids appropriate. If you want to visit Tim Burtons bizarro-land go without them.
I scored Alice In Wonderland a hallucinogenic 4 out of 10.
