Alice In Wonderland

Tim Burton and Lewis Carrol's "Alice" books seemed, when this project was announced, to be a perfect combination. I waited with great anticipation to see the result and I know many others did too - and I was not disappointed.The story follows an adult Alice, who is at a crossroads after being proposed to her by a wealthy heir, but one whom she feels nothing for. At just this moment, she espies the White Rabbit, who leads her into Wonderland, a strange land that she visited in her childhood, but believed to be just a dream. There she meets the familiar characters of the Mad Hatter and his tea drinking posse, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat. They have been waiting hopefully for her return, as she is the one who will end the rule of the paranoid and violent Red Queen, a character amalgam of the Red Qeen from "Through the Looking Glass" and The Queen of Hearts from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". She eventualy becomes the champion of the benevolent but exiled White Queen and is set on a collision course with the Red Queen and her forces, including the sly and mean-spirited Knave of Hearts (who seems to amalgamate The Knave of Hearts from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and The Red Knight from "Through the Looking Glass") and the fearsome Jabberwocky, the dragon that protects the Red Queen from challenges.Many, it sems, were disappointed with this. Some complain that it eschews the books fragmented plot in favour of a quest structure, while others complain of the lack of storyline. Burton, by his own admission focuses on characters and imagery rather than story. This is a valid approach as cinema is a visual medium - not like a novel. This being said, I was surprised that Burton was more interested in a version with a story than the fragmented original, although this may not have been his decision alone. The result, however, works. There is just enough of a story to give the characters more of a history and motivation - a feature of Burton's previous film adaptations of "Sleepy Hollow" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - in which characters were given more depth by introducing more of a back story. Yes, as many have pointed out, the film does utilise the monomyth structure as many other recent fantasy epics have - but stories do tend to use it - and this is not the first "Alice" adaptation to do so. The film has to be judged on the merits of how it achieves its own goal, and Burton's key is in using his distinctive imagination to give this "Alice" and this monomyth its own peculiar feel. Some may miss elements of Carrol's nonsensical wit that are not here, but there is sufficient essence of Carrol in the language of the characters and the confusion Alice faces in dealing with many of them. It must be remembered that much of the plot is derived from "Through the Looking Glass" which has more structure than "Alice in Wonderland". The story of "The Jabberwocky", a poem from "Through the Looking Glass" is also used in the plot structure - introducing the key folkloric motif of the special weapon - the Vorpal Sword. The brilliant result of this is in creating a new, surreal version of the monomyth filtered through the sensibilities of Carrol and Burton.The CGI I is used sparringly and has the weighted feel of Burton's stop motion work, making it feel more real and much warmer than much of the cold, slick CGI of other films. Some say that the 3D was tacked on and not integral, I offer other adjectives: unintruseive and understated. I ddo not want to walk away from a film with my memory focused on the special effects - to me there is a great failing in the characters if this is the case. Burton's brilliant visual quality stands out in every frame of the film - beautifully tonal and detailed. Slightly gothic and with a wonderful technicolour palette.All actors are outstanding. The CGI characters are voiced to perfection. Wasikowska is a curious and assertive presence without gushing at her surroundings like an Alice from a bad panto adaptation. Depp is a delighfully nuanced, bi-polar Mad Hatter with the right blen of whimsy and psychological damage. Bonham-Carter is a wicked Red Queen, delightfully spoiled and OTT, but also showing the damage that made her a monster. Ann Hathaway is a warm but motivated presence who has done exceelent work in the building of her character. Some find the characters a little cold - I find an emotional honesty rather than the sentimental syrup many expect from family fantasy and Hollywood movies in general.This is a wonderful fantasy that harkens back to great fantasy films like "Labrynth", The Dark Crystal", "The Princess Bride", "Return to Oz" and even Disney's earlier animations such as "Sleeping Beauty" "Snow White" and their original "Alice in Wonderland" - that were unafraid to be stylistically bold, slightly wierd, a bit scary, very whimsical and a lot of fun!

Disappointed at how long you have after starting it. If you have 30 days to watch it, you should be able to watch it for 30 days not 24 hours afterStarting it

Okay, let us get this out of the way: This isn't the story created by Lewis Carroll, and it isn't like the cartoon that Disney put out originally. I know it is put out by Disney, but it isn't the Alice in Wonderland we are all familiar with. When you saw the name Tim Burton, this should have been a big clue.The story does use many of the beloved characters from Lewis Carroll's story: Caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, The Red Queen, Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, etc. However, Tim Burton has created an entirely new story line that is a sequel to the original Alice story.Alice is now grown up, and she has dismissed her memories of Wonderland as a fantastic dream. While running away from a marriage proposal, she falls down the rabbit hole again. Convinced she isn't the Alice everyone is looking for, she keeps waiting to wake up. Meanwhile, she is being hunted by the Red Queen because it is only Alice who can save everyone from the Jabberwocky, which the Red Queen used to steal the throne from her sister and to maintain control over her subjects.The movie has a bit of a slow start at first, and it may not be embraced by the purists who want the original story. However, I can appreciate this retelling and new story line. I am a big Tim Burton fan, at least of his later works. Though people often criticize him for putting his girlfriend and Johnny Depp in all his movies, I generally enjoy their acting. I have to admit, this wasn't one of my favorite roles of Depp as the Mad Hatter. I liked the portrayal of the character, which is shown as being more sensitive...but I don't know if I exactly liked Depp in the role. He seemed a bit "washed out". It was like seeing Jack Sparrow if he had been turned into an artistic nerd.Helena Bonham Carter, though, was my absolute favorite as the Red Queen. Though the Red Queen is still awful, there is a bit of a sympathy with her as well. Personally, I was rooting for her.I also really liked Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, and I loved the Cheshire cat too!This is kind of a "coming into yourself" type of story. It was really delightful to see so many talented actors in one movie.

My siblings and I loved this movie when we used to have cable, but weren't able to access after they switched to streaming (they didn't have Disney Plus to use) so I got my sister this movie and it's one of her favorites!