In Review: Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland has been one of this years most anticipated films. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton teaming up yet again to create a masterpiece...why wouldn't you go see it? I would recommend that if you do go see it in IMAX 3D that you don't wear giant Wayfarer glasses under the 3D ones that they give out. My nose is currently in pain and the movie ended 2 hours ago.

The film was visually stunning. The colours and visual tone of the movie were very Burtonesque. But let me tell you something about the movie that you couldn't get from the previews, cause lets be real here...you all wanted to go see it because of J Depp and the crazy visuals.

The Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland that you all may have seen as children, and now may think of as someones form of an acid trip, was the little girl Alice story. Tim Burton's is the 19 year old Alice story set 13 years after her first venture down the rabbit hole, which of course, she thinks was a dream. Silly Alice. In this film Alice follows the rabbit down the rabbit hole because the people of Underland need to to help them overthrow the Red Queen.

So there is a little plot summary for you. Now time for my favourite part of a review: tearing apart individual performances.

Mia Wasikowska - Alice. She is pretty much unknown which suited me just fine because there were no other performances for me to compare her too. For what they were wanting the character to exert, a girl who is rebellious, easy distracted and slightly "mad," she did quite well. I think she could have upped the crazy a little, but other than that pretty decent. I am not sure if they wanted us to feel very much emotion from her...if they did they failed, if they didn't they succeeded.

Anne Hathaway - the White Queen. She was the sister of the Red Queen and the one who was supposed to be ruling the land. I am not sure if Tim wanted me to HATE that character, but I sure did. First of all let's talk about the black eye brows and the white hair. I pretty much got sick just looking at it. The way that she carried herself was also very annoying. I think she was supposed to float around gracefully with her hands always in the air like she was about to start ballroom dancing, but it looked really stiff and unnatural. So basically I hated her and didn't sympathize with her outcasted situation at all.

Johnny Depp - Mad Hatter. I am not gonna lie...this is probably my favorite Johnny Depp roll ever. I can't pin point why at this exact moment, but the crazy/lovable character suited him so well. Every now and then he would start going literally psychotic and start talking in a Scottish accent which was very weird yet amusing. I was a little concerned about the relationship between Alice and the Hatter since he was considerably older than her...honestly at the end I was like "are they supposed to like each other?" Maybe it was just me, but still...odd.

Helena Bonham Cater - Red Queen. She was supposed to be the villain of the show but I really just pitied her and at the end I wanted her to poke out Anne Hathaway's eyes and shave off her eyebrows. She is the elder of the two sisters and hates that the White Queen is loved by everyone and no one likes her unless she is ruling with fear. She was probably my favourite of all of the cast of this film. Just brilliant.

All in all it was a pretty great film. I felt like I was in a weird more vibrantly coloured version of The Chronicles of Narnia with how the story was set up. Wardrobe/Rabbit hole, same difference. Kings and Queens/Champion, close enough. Ice Queen/White Queen...ok slightly different since one is good and one is bad, but you catch my drift.

Verdict: 3.8 Stars

XOXO
Jes...