Monday, March 15, 2010

Alice in Wonderland

Plot: Directed by Tim Burton & Based on the books "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll, 19 year old Alice falls down the rabbit hole again (without any childhood memories of her first journey) to find a very altered Wonderland that she must save from the clutches of The Red Queen and return to its rightful ruler The White Queen

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, & Lindsay Duncan, featuring the voices of Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, & Imelda Stuanton.

Review: Although visually impressive, this film proved to be style over substance. It was beautiful. Everything from the costumes, (I wanted all of Alice's dresses) to the makeup, to the set design screams for 2011 Oscar nominations. However, what was missing was an interesting plot. Instead of focusing the writing by basing it on one of the Lewis Carroll novels, it diced and spliced two of them together, leaving out the best ingredients. How can you base a movie on "Through the Looking Glass" and completely leave the looking glass out? Uggh. Ignoring the pedestrian and very juvenile plot, the film was enjoyable. The acting was OK, with Helena Bonham Carter being the standout. Mia made a decent Alice though I believe Amanda Seyfried would've been much better. Johnny Depp was kind of disappointing. At times he was mad and at other times just sad. Did anyone else notice his accent kept alternating between Scottish and English? What was that? Anne Hathaway is a wonderful actress, but she just wasn't right for this part. The stylized nature of her character, always holding her arms up in this very "Glenda The Good Witch" sort of way, required stylized acting along with it. She's too natural for such a stylized role. Any moments where she was stylized came off forced and uncomfortable. Where she did shine, however, were the moments (like the kitchen scene) where she dropped the stylized behavior and just acted. See this movie in the theater so you can see the amazing visual style of Tim Burton in 3D. Just know this movie's all fluff, and I'm not just talking about that cute gravity defying cat.

Rating: Acting-C
Voice over: A- Best caterpillar voice ever.
Writing-C
Directing-B
Music-A
Cinematography-A
Editing-A
Costumes-A
Art Direction-A
Hair-A
Makeup-A
Visual Effects-A

**1/2 Stars because style over substance is still enjoyable for me.

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