Movie Film

Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland is a shockingly underwhelming film that won’t please fans of Lewis Carroll’s beloved 19th century book, or fans of the filmmaker either. Although its seamless blend of live action and computer animation is predictably impressive, the film has the misfortune of being the first major 3D release to arrive after the Avatar revolution and — given that the film was shot in 2D and its footage subsequently converted — ends up looking cartoonish and flat, and not particularly improved by the 3D technology.

The original story was about a young Alice and her adventure in Wonderland, but Burton’s film focuses on her as a relatively grown-up 19-year-old (played by Mia Wasikowska), who dumps her aristocratic suitor and follows a white rabbit into the magical land of her childhood, of which she has no memory, only a few sketchy dreams.

When Alice arrives in Underland, as the residents call it, she is joined by all the usual suspects for a joyless tea party — Cheshire Cat, March Hare, and of course, the Mad Hatter himself (played by Johnny Depp in clownish ginger hair). They inform Alice of her destiny — she must slay the dragon Jabberwocky and overthrow the evil Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter sporting a giant bulbous head), making way for the kind-but-kooky White Queen (played by Anne Hathaway) to ascend the throne.

As die-hard fans of the original book and its sequel, ‘Through The Looking Glass’, will tell you, the chief problem with Burton’s film — and the script in fact from which it’s derived — is that it makes perfect sense. The charm of Lewis Carroll’s story lies in the fact that it’s whimsical, ridiculous and nonsensical, and yet it’s so much fun. The film, unfortunately, turns it into a sensible, linear and conventional narrative, which to be fair is a crime against the source material.

Visually the film is a confused cross between candy-colored treat and Burtonesque goth, although there is some fun to be had in this world of wonders where animals talk and even flowers speak their mind. The mystical, grinning Cheshire Cat, and the wise blue caterpillar Absolum are the film’s more memorable CGI inventions. But the characters you’re most likely to remember are the dimwitted egg-shaped twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee (both voiced by Little Britain’s Matt Lucas), and Bonham Carter’s lunatic, shrill-voiced Red Queen.

In the end, if you can forgive the video-game climax and the film’s overcrowded feel, perhaps you won’t be too disappointed. Johnny Depp, playing Edward Scissorhands but with orange hair, is always a watchable actor, and to some degree he saves this film.

I’m going with two-and-a-half out of five and a strictly average rating for Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland; it’s worth a one-time visit, but it’s unlikely that you’ll want to come back again!

Rating: 2.5 / 5 – Good watch it with family – (courtest buzz18)