By Ned Jordan
Alice in Wonderland is not the umpteenth film retelling of the classic work
of fiction by Lewis Carroll, but rather a sequel to the original tale in which a
grown Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to the world she visited as a child. The
Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) rules Underland (the movie supposes that Alice
misheard the name of the world as Wonderland when a child, but for some reason
holds onto 'Wonderland' in the title) with an iron-fist, chopping off heads left
and right and enforcing her will through the tooth and claw of creatures such as
the Bandersnatch and Jabberwocky. Her sister and true ruler of Underland, the
White Queen (Anne Hathaway), lives in her palace in virtual exile while the Mad
Hatter (Johnny Depp) uses his madness as a cover for his role as leader of the
resistance against the Red Queen. The world of Underland looks to Alice to be
its savior, but before she's up to the task she somehow has to find her lost "muchness"...
You can view Alice in Wonderland in one of two ways. The first is that it is
what it tries to be, namely a sequel to Carroll's works. In this regard the
movie falls painfully short, and Carroll's fans and students of literature will
certainly be disappointed. The film's writer, Linda Woolverton, brings back many
of the familiar characters from the books but it seems that she was completely
incapable of capturing their spirit, wit, and imagination. Carroll's skill with
wordplay, logic, and mathematical concepts that created such a wonderful
Wonderland in the first place are conspicuously absent in the screenplay,
replaced by dialog and situations found in rather pedestrian fantasy fare.
Woolverton undoubtedly read Alice in Wonderland, but it's apparent that she
didn't quite 'get' Alice in Wonderland.
That being said, if you approach the movie in the second way, namely as
Hollywood escapist fare, it does its job well enough. The Tim Burton take on the
look of Wonderland and its denizens is entertaining and visually interesting,
and fans of the director will undoubtedly be pleased by the look of it all. The
story follows the well-worn reluctant hero saves the kingdom path - with a
strong dash of grrrl power tossed in to keep up with the times - and it serves
the movie as well as this archetypical story arc has served such films in the
past. And of course everything culminates in the requisite CGI battle scene. In
the end, though, the look of the film will impress you more than the story, and
it will be the visuals that will bring you back for repeated viewings. It's
mostly eye candy, with little more to feed the heart and soul.
The Blu-ray release of the movie features an excellent HD picture that
captures all of the nuances of Burton's Wonderland. Any fears that the film's 3D
theatrical release would somehow degrade the picture when it was released on Blu-ray
can be safely laid to rest the picture is sharp and the colors are brilliant.
On the other hand, the sound has not been mixed well, which is a rarity in a
Disney Blu-ray release. Unfortunately this is one of those films that has to be
watched with remote in hand because the action scenes are booming and the dialog
delivered in relative whispers.
The version reviewed includes two additional discs, one with a DVD version of
the film and another with a digital copy for download to PC. There are
plenty of special features on the Blu-ray disc to keep fans of the film happy,
as well as those curious as to the work that went behind bringing the film to
life:
- Finding Alice
- The Mad Hatter
- The Futterwacken Dance
- The Red Queen
- Time-Lapse: Sculpting the Red Queen
- The White Queen
- Scoring Wonderland
- Effecting Wonderland
- Stunts Of Wonderland
- Making the Proper Size
- Cakes of Wonderland
- Tea Party Props
Final Rating:
