Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 01, Mar 2010 11:22
By Lewis Bazley.
Directed by Tim Burton, out March 5th, in cinemas, starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, running time 108 mins.
What's it all about?
On the brink of an unwanted marriage to a wealthy peer, 19-year-old Alice (Wasikowska) takes a trip to Wonderland (Underland in the movie), remembered fondly by the Mad Hatter (Depp), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and the kingdom's magical creatures even if she doesn't quite recall the first time she fell down the Rabbit Hole. But with Wonderland plunged into darkness by the Red Queen's (Bonham Carter) evil reign, Alice must follow her destiny and bring happiness back to a world of fantasy.
Who's in it?
Johnny Depp collaborates with Tim Burton for the seventh time while the director's partner Helena Bonham Carter is now a regular fixture in her other half's films. Former child actress Mia Wasikowska makes her Hollywood debut as Alice while the British talent on board includes Stephen Fry (Cheshire Cat), Matt Lucas (Tweedledum and Tweedledee), Alan Rickman (Blue Caterpillar), Michael Sheen (White Rabbit) and Barbara Windsor (Dormouse).
As an example.
"Anyone with a head that large is welcome in my kingdom." - Red Queen
"Have I gone mad?" - Mad Hatter
"I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are." - Alice
What the others say
"A fantastic film that gets curiouser and curiouser." - Kate Muir, Times Online
"Burton on his A-game is a force to be reckoned with. Think Sweeney Todd, Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns. But if there is a letter 26 places past Z, that's the type of game he's on here. So let me call it now: Alice in Wonder- land - the most disappointing film of 2010." - Robbie Collin, News of the World
So is it any good?
Several aspects of Tim Burton's latest take on a children's classic are fitting and heartening, from the shrill yelp of Bonham Carter's regular scene thief the Red Queen to the diminutive defiance of the Dormouse or the sheer delight of seeing Stephen Fry lend his languorous tones to the seductive Cheshire Cat. Australian actress Wasikowska also deserves immense credit for the clarity of her British accent and delivers an expressive and open performance as Alice struggles to come to terms with her notoriety and significance in Wonderland. Depp is as mercurial as ever, though the joie de vivre of his Mercury-tinged turn as the Hatter could be undermined by some by his jarring shifts in accent, from Cockney to Glaswegian in the blink of an eye.
But alongside beautifully rendered sets or adeptly realised characters comes a significant misjudge or a derivative set-piece. Carroll's fantastical source isn't all talking fauna and exciting potions and if anyone's suited to convey the darkness and temptation within the kingdom, it's Burton. But critics who complain that he repeats himself by casting Depp and Bonham Carter over and over again will find further ammunition against the bespectacled auteur here. In the wake of Avatar's groundbreaking realism, a forest chase scene in Wonderland can't help but drag while Burton's regular composer Danny Elfman is blatantly culpable of mining his own back catalogue as motifs almost identical to those in the Spider-Man franchise soundtrack Alice's travails. Wonderland seems less a fantastical kingdom worthy of repeated visits and more a desolate, gnarled landscape, as if experiencing the aftermath of The Neverending Story's 'global killer' The Nothing. You'd expect Burton to keep his flora ashen and his skies overcast but what jars and jolts you out of an intermittently psychotropic experience is the film's overwhelming sadness, not helped by its languid pace.
For a film with frequently stunning visuals, a wonderfully British script full of farce and wordplay and a cast excelling themselves beyond the constraints of green screen, it's a great shame that the overwhelming instinct after watching Alice in Wonderland is to sigh.
5.5/10