Alice in Wonderland - Movie Review

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have a fairly long history of working together. Some (Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd) of these collaborations are more memorable than others (Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Unfortunately, Alice in Wonderland, the seventh collaboration between Depp and Burton, ends up being perhaps the most insignificant of all.

In this adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is nineteen years old (much older than the original story) and falls down the rabbit hole while running away from an arranged marriage to a socially awkward duke. There, she becomes embroiled in the (seemingly) never ending war between the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

It's quite delightful to see many well-known British actors getting roles, although almost all of them are simply voice roles. Alan Rickman (as the Caterpillar) and Stephen Fry (as the Chesire Cat) are terrifically well cast, and, as a whole, the entire cast is extremely strong and no one seems out of place. Wasikowska, at times, seems outmatched, however this can easily be explained by the fact that you have a teen acting around a large collection of acting veterans who are twenty (or thirty or forty) years her senior.

Although Alice is the main character, all of the marketing for Alice in Wonderland and, indeed, much of the movie itself seems more geared toward Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Mad Hatter. Depp, like he often does, steals every scene he's in, although at times it isn't apparent whether this is due to Depp being at the top of his game or Wasikowska being somewhat outmatched surrounded by veteran actors who are comfortable inhabiting one of Burton's fantasy worlds.

It's quite delightful to see many well-known British actors getting roles, although almost all of them are simply voice roles. Alan Rickman (as the Caterpillar) and Stephen Fry (as the Chesire Cat) are terrifically well cast, and, as a whole, the entire cast is extremely strong and no one seems out of place. I was not at all surprised that Wasikowska seemed outmatched throughout Alice in Wonderland, although she was by no means bad.

Like all of Tim Burton's movies, Alice in Wonderland is visually stunning, although the addition of 3-D effects is, at best, distracting. Burton is a master at creating beautiful and, at times, wonderfully creepy visual settings, and at times Alice in Wonderland is stunning. All of the CGI characters seem to seamlessly interact with the "real-life" actors, and only near the very end are there special effects that that seem unnecessary and, dare I say, cheesy. I won't spoil the story by saying what they are, but, much like the story itself, everything seems less impressive in the final thirty or forty minutes of Alice in Wonderland than in the first hour.

Although I can see why the story was revamped somewhat so that it wasn't the exact same Alice in Wonderland that most people have seen before, some of the liberties taken with the story fail miserably. Halfway through the movie, it can't decide whether it still wants to be Alice in Wonderland or The Lord of the Rings. Alice has been chosen to slay the Jabberwocky? Really?

Never in a thousand years would I have thought of making Carroll's brilliant nonsense poem the thematic crux of an Alice in Wonderland adaptation, and, after seeing it put into motion, I can see why I never thought of it. The transition from dreamlike whimsical fantasy to "chosen one has to save the world" fantasy is haphazard, and I almost felt like I was watching an entirely different movie.

I wouldn't have been surprised at all if one of the characters had started referring to "one Alice to rule them all," and the climatic action sequence is beyond unnecessary. I literally felt the energy leaving the film in a big whoooosh as the plot fell apart, and by the time the absolutely horrible Avril Lavigne song plays over the end credits, I wasn't sure what to think any more. The first half of the film was an enjoyably crazy romp through Burton's twisted vision of Alice in Wonderland, but the second half was Burton's twisted vision of an action-fantasy knock-off.

Thus, Alice in Wonderland ends up one of those rare films where everyone plays along gamely, yet the story is nowhere near the caliber of every performance. The single largest failing of Alice in Wonderland is the dreadful story revisions, and it seems a shame that so many good performances and visual eccentricities are wasted on such an insignificant and painful story.

Score: 3 (out of 5) stars