Movie Summary of Alice In Wonderland by Michael The Moviegoer.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND = **1/2
“Is It Any Wonder?”
Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of a child’s psychotic hallucination seems like the perfect fit for director Tim Burton to do a big-screen adaptaion. Sadly, this “Alice In Wonderland” is Tim Burton at his most restrained. Although there are sprinkles of brilliance throughout, the end result is flat, lifeless and forgettable.
On the plus-side is the fresh new face of Mia Wasikowska as a 19-year old Alice. She’s literally in every scene, yet the marketing campaign makes this look like a Johnny Depp vehicle. Depp is good as the Mad Hatter, but he’s only in half the film. So when one hears that Johnny Depp is starring in “Alice In Wonderland”, should we expect him to be playing Alice in drag?
This movie really belongs to the spectacular supporting performance of Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Bonham Carter’s energy leaps off the screen, even in the 2D version. With a seamless blend of fierceness and vulnerability, her performance is on the same level as the Oscar-winning supporting roles of Judi Dench in “Shakespeare In Love” and Renee Zellweger in “Cold Mountain”. She simply steals every scene she’s in.
Tim Burton’s visuals are always super imaginative. A lot of the eye-candy in this film is certainly original. That’s why the film’s third act is so frustrating, and so unlike Burton. Alice grabs a sword and fights a large, loud, CGI flying serpent. Suddenly Alice’s Wonderland becomes an all-too-familiar-looking video game. Burton’s creative touch completely disappears. This results in a finale that looks like a cliché of so many other CGI-infested films. The flying serpent looks so unoriginal that you’d think it comes as a standard offering in CGI software packages.
DVD Double Feature: To recall a time when Tim Burton was bursting with creativity and offering eye-popping, dazzling visuals, check out his underappreciated 1996 gem “Mars Attacks” starring Jack Nicholson.
Michael The Moviegoer
