I realized I never posted my thoughts on Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, which I saw for the first time around May 2010 I believe it was. I'm kind of glad I didn't review it then, because I was still very VERY obsessed with the Syfy version and just about anything would've paled in comparison. Now that quite a bit of time has passed, I re-watched the movie with a fresh outlook.First off, Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland is sort of a sequel to the 1950's Disney animated feature of Alice In Wonderland and sort of a reimagining. The characters look nothing like their animated counterparts though, because it's obviously Tim Burton's vision. Everything about it screams Burton, and I've been a fan of his movies for years. The cast is typical Tim Burton with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Anymore I don't think Tim Burton would make a movie without these two in it, and that's not a bad thing. I like them both. However, that being said, I didn't care for the fact that this was really the Mad Hatter's show. It sort of made me wish that if Tim Burton was going to make a version of Alice with Johnny Depp as the star, that it really would've been something entirely different and make it a movie about the Mad Hatter, period. It could've even been a prequel, before Alice came to Wonderland. I think that would've been pretty interesting, and something that hasn't been done before on film.
Alice is played by Mia Wasikowska, and I didn't know this actress before the film but she does a really great job as Alice, probably one of my favorite Alices so far. I only wish she wouldn't have been overshadowed so much by Johnny Depp. Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen, who for me, was the weak link in the cast. For one thing, she seemed too young for the role. She's supposed to be the Red Queen's sister and they seem a little too far apart in age. I would've loved to see someone like Cate Blanchett play the White Queen. The White Queen in the novel was always one of my favorite characters, and I thought the direction they went with her in this version was a little odd. The White Queen definitely has lost her marbles, but Anne Hathaway's version just seems like a flake to me.
What also struck me as odd, since Tim Burton decided to go with the battle between the Red and White Queens and their respective soldiers, is the total absence of the White Knight. Considering the Red Queen had Stayne, the Knave of Hearts is basically her main defender, the White Knight would've been an excellent addition and there could've been a pretty epic showdown between him and the Knave of Hearts. Instead this role is filled by the Mad Hatter, which in my opinion might've worked better had he not been quite so off his rocker. He seems really inconsistent as a character, sometimes seeming batty and jovial and other times seeming really dark and almost sinister. This was usually distinguished by his foppish lisp when he was acting silly, and sporting a Scottish brogue when he was more serious. I kind of understood why they made the distinction, but I think it could've been fleshed out better with more flashbacks and more insight into Hatter's story and past.
The visuals are stunning, and very Burton-esque, which I liked. I actually would've liked even more use of traditional Burton visuals, but it was a good balance. I could've used a little bit less CGI. I wish more of the characters were "real", and even the ones that were real, had CGI elements which I found distracting (ie the Mad Hatter's eyes, and Stayne's entire body were both CGI). It seemed very cartoony at times, but I have to let it slide a little knowing that the movie was geared for a younger audience.
That might be my main gripe with the movie. When I first heard that Tim Burton was doing an Alice movie, I immediately thought of his darker movies like Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd, and thought that Alice would follow suit. I wasn't thinking of his later efforts such as Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, which was much more colorful and kid-oriented. I would really love to see someone tackle a much more offbeat and sinister Alice In Wonderland, something more similar to American McGee's Alice.
The movie feels very short for what it is. I felt like it had the potential to be really epic, what with the battle at the end, but it fell a little short. It wasn't even 2 hours long, and considering that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory surpassed 2 hours, I felt a little cheated. They could've fleshed out the Mad Hatter's backstory more and made the ending battle even more exciting.
Overall, it's worth watching and it's certainly not the worst version of Alice In Wonderland I've seen. I just don't think it quite lived up to the hype, and I would've liked a little less visual and a little more story.
