Alice In Wonderland…A Review (SPOILER ALERT!)

This week we went to see Tim Burton’s version of the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice In Wonderland.  We took advantage of the IMAX 3D cinema experience at the Irvine Spectrum theaters in Irvine, CA.  Gotta love that IMAX.

So, on with the review.  After a quick trip to the concession stand for the necessary popcorn and soda, it was time for Alice In Wonderland on a screen 6 stories tall in 3D.  We donned our orange 3D glasses and the lights dimmed.  The anticipation has been killing me.  Ever since I heard that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were doing this film I’ve been looking forward to seeing it.

I’m a big Lewis Carroll fan.  If you are not, or somehow over the course of your existence on the planet you’ve managed to never read or see the Alice In Wonderland story, you’re in for a treat.  It will live up to all of your expectations.  A wild world of wonder and amazement brought to ruin by a devious queen and full of wild 3D action and excitement.  For the ladies, they mix a few subtle love interests into the mix.  Don’t worry guys, not enough to banish it to “chick flick” land.

You gotta love any movie with a hookah smoking blue caterpillar atop a huge mushroom.  The first time we meet him is a cool scene with the caterpillar, voiced by Alan Rickman, sitting atop a giant mushroom smoking a hookah and blowing 3D smoke at you.  The caterpillar is the “Buddah” of Underland, as they call it.

The White Queen (Anne Hathaway) has been overthrown by her older sister, the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).  Hathaway’s portrayal of the White Queen comes off a little too Glenda Good Witch of the North.  She’s a mix of Glenda and a weird new age girl.  Helena Bonham Carter does a decent job with the Red Queen, who’s head is enormous compared to her body.  She tries so hard not to slip into the pure evil character that the Red Queen should be.  Even her “off with  her head” lines were humorous rather than frightening.  Who would bow down the her?

The Red Queen’s kiss ass sidekick is the Knave of Hearts played by Crispin Glover.  Glover’s character paralleled Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham and included not enough Crispin Glover’s natural creepy weird guy.  The Knave’s character is un-needed and ancillary at best.  I would have rather not had the character at all, as it really didn’t add more than a very uncomfortable love interest for the Red Queen.  The scene when he hits on Alice, (now that she’s old enough) is just too much.  The weird love connection that develops between Alice and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is also odd and unnecessary.

Johnny Depp portrays the Mad Hatter perfectly.  A seemingly schizophrenic madman with orange hair and brilliant green eyes as if to say he’s been overcome by mercury poisoning.  The term “Mad Hatter” comes from 19th century hatters use of mercury in their profession causing them to appear “mad.”  Depp’s character of the Hatter even changes accents and mannerisms as if he were multiple personalities in one body.

Running a close second to the Hatter is the March Hare.  A truly batty rabbit with an obsession for time and tea, the March Hare is the penultimate comic sidekick to Depp’s rather serious portrayal of the Hatter.  The Hare will leave you in stitches.

The cards.  Oh, the cards.  The one rather large mistake is Burton’s portrayal of the card army as mechanical armored cards, red on both sides.  With their suit and number on shoulder plates, they’re more representative of odd knights than playing cards with no heads, rather a hockey goalie mask as a face.  You never get the impression that they have opinion or thought other than to serve the Red Queen.  The occasional scene where one gets knocked down and they all fall like dominoes is funny but not enough to make me like them.  They’re playing cards…make them look like playing cards!

Go into Alice In Wonderland expecting nothing.  Don’t expect it to be like the book.  Don’t expect the characters to parallel the cartoons of Disney’s previous attempts at the Alice story.  Burton blends Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass books into a slightly bastardized flash forward version of both, creating new roles for old characters and introducing hardly mentioned minor thoughts as major players.  A true original vision based on a 150 year old book.  If they would have stuck to the original story, they’d have left themselves open to the sequel, Through the Looking Glass, rather than return Alice home safely to terra normal, off to explore trade routes to China.

I’ll give Burton the benefit of the doubt and give Alice In Wonderland 3 stars.  Depp saves the day!  Danny Elfman’s soundtrack is great too.