Anyone who knows me knows that (in my head at least) I am the illegitimate love child of Tim Burton. I own all of his films and have collected memorabilia relating to his work for a number of years. Hell I even liked Planet Of The Apes
Now before we start getting into the finer details, I’d like to make it clear that, in my opinion, Alice in Wonderland is too light to be a “proper” Tim Burton film though it is equally too dark to be a “proper” Disney film. It’s caught somewhere in between, largely down I feel, to the the fact the film is not a straightforward adaptation of the Lewis Carrol’s books. Instead Burton has taken elements from both books and crafted a sequel of some sorts. Much in the same way as the director did when creating the sublime Batman Returns
The plot of this dark tale centers on an 19 year old Alice who is plagued by dreams of her first adventures in Wonderland (or Underland as the film insists it be called). In order to escape a marriage proposal, Alice follows a white rabbit down, you’ve guessed it, a rabbit hole and finds herself back in Underland.
Once back in Underland, we are treated to familiar scenes and characters from the books (and original Disney film) such as the eat me and drink me potions and Tweeduldum and Tweedledee before Alice re-encounters the Mad Hatter’s tea party who inform our heroine that her return has been prophesied and that she is the one to slay the Jabberwocky thus defeating the tyrannical Red Queen (deliciously played by Helena Bonham Carter) thus restoring rule to the White Queen (a not so good Anne Hathaway).
The performances on the whole are spot on with excellent casting choices particularly Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Matt Lucas as Dweedledum and Dweedledee and Alan Rickman as the blue caterpillar. It is, inevitably, Johnny Depp who once again steals the show with an excellent turn as the schizophrenic Mad Hatter, switching seamlessly from friendly, harmless odd ball to deranged physchopath within the blink of an eye. It is his performance that again suggests this is not a film for the terribly small. Tie that in with the scene where Alice must cross the Red Queens moat by using floating severed heads as stepping stones (classic Burton imagery NOT classic Disney) and you do feel like the director and studio were wrestling each other for control of the project.
The CGI is fine though after the exceptional beauty of Avatar, feels a little clunky in places. This most evident of Crispin Glover’s Knave of Hearts who has a very stiff, juddery motion whenever he moves. The Bandysnatch and Jabberwocky however are both beautiful realised as is Underland, the design of which is classic Burton. The 3d is good yet not as well utilised as in Avatar.
There were rumours abound that the film was still being worked on up to and beyond the world premiere, if this is true it would explain the disjointed feel to some scenes as well as the ropey CGI. Had Burton and his team not been under such a strict timescale and had this adaptation not been released through Disney, I feel we would’ve had a much different film.
Overall Alice in Wonderland is not without its flaws, yet is still an enjoyable, beatuiful romp through “Underland”.