Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland
You would think that Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland would be a perfect match, a dynamic duo of perfection like Batman and Robin, Abbot and Costello or Cheese and Burgers. In so many ways, this movie could have been a classic, but instead Burton's inane film is just a series of one classic blunder after another. Alice in Wonderland completely and utterly fails to live up to its potential. This is easily Burton's worst film since his Planet of the Apes remake.

The problem is deep-rooted and lies in the very concept of the film. Instead of a remake or an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's stories, this is more of a sequel. A teenage Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to Wonderland - though she doesn't remember anything of her earlier adventure. The story that follows contains all of our familiar iconic characters, but instead of a romp through Wonderland, we have a bunch of gibberish about fate, magic swords, and The Chosen One. Burton has basically taken all of the characters from Wonderland and shoehorned them into a Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings movie. And they just don't fit. When the very concept is unsound, it is hard for any movie to recover.

Is the movie all bad? If nothing else, Burton has assembled a wonderful cast. Even if the movie is bombing, it was nice to hear Alan Rickman's Caterpillar and Stephen Fry's superb Cheshire Cat. Matt Lucas also does good work as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Helena Bodham Carter is a great Red Queen (more on her later). The cast and voice cast also includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hatheway, Christopher Lee, Crispen Glover, Michael Gough, Timothy Spall, and Michael Sheen - some do better than others, but you can't deny the talent up there on the screen.

Which leads me to Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. This character is perfect for Depp and should have been a great opportunity. Instead, his Mad Hatter is just too mad. He is all over the place - schizophrenically changing accents and personalities with no rhyme or reason. As my friend said, "I don't know what he wants us to do with this performance."

Now you may say, "James, A) he is supposed to be crazy! or B) the performance is just great indicator of his madness!" To which I reply that Mad Hatter's performance only A) gave me a headache, and B) made me angry because Johnny Depp should know better than this. I don't care if he is supposed to be crazy. He's really just annoying.

What else can I say? Even the special effects are unremarkable and Wonderland looks...dare I say, it looks boring. It's all been done before. And that hurts to say when the visually inventive Burton is involved. Everything in this movie has been done before and done better. Alice in Wonderland could have and should have been so much more. What a waste.

TRIVIA: Here's something interesting - Burton didn't want to direct Alice in Wonderland at first because he felt there was no story. It was just a sequence of unconnected moments and that didn't interest him. Only when he found a central narrative to link everything together did he excitedly jump onboard. And this is the story that interested him?!? Did he just watch The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and think "oh, there's my Alice in Wonderland story!"???  Stupid. SPOILER ALERT HERE: So at the end of the film, Alice has one of these flashback moments where she remembers everything from her first adventure, and we are treated to a quick montage of the famous Alice events - the tea party, painting the white roses with red paint, chasing the White Rabbit - and I thought to myself that "hey, that looks great. Why am I not watching that movie!?"

MVP: I have to go back to Helena Bodham Carter because she is terrific. Unlike Depp and Burton, who drop the ball with what should have been a home run, Carter completely embodies the Red Queen. This is a perfect synthesis of character and actor. She is wonderfully funny, vain, cruel, and clueless. She is an absolute treat to watch in this film. What a greater treat if she had been in a real Alice movie!

BEST LINE: "I need a pig here!"

OSCARS: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design
OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Visual Effects