Review: Alice in Wonderland

As a massive fan of Tim Buron's work and of the Alice books both In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass I had been looking forwdt seeing this film for quite a while now. Burton gives us a new tale in which Alice is now 19 and about to be married off to a toff with digestion problems. She has little recogition of her time in Wonderland and is bemused to find herself back there. All the familiar characters have been included The Mad Hatter, Tweedles Dum and Dee, The Red and White Quens, The Cheshire Cat and the caterpillar. The film has all of Burton's usual visual flair and it is part-animation, part motion-capture with some of the charaters being performed by their actors while others are simply voiced. Wonderland or Underland as it is known as is particularly stylish with the castles and forrest scenes being particularly impressive. I also had the pleasure of watching the film in 3D, I say pleasure but I'm sure the glasses actually made the screen darker, and apart from the scene in which Alice falls down the rabbit hole, the 3D really didn't add anything to my enjoymt of the film.

The largely British ensemble cast make the most of their roles with Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter hamming it up as The Red Queen although her performance is oddly reminiscent of Miranda Richardson as Elizabeth I in Blackadder. Matt Lucas is hilarious as the Tweedles and it's a shame that he wasn't afforded more screentime, Alan Rickman's sardonic tones suit the caterpillar well and Michael Sheen is reliable as ever as the rabbit while national treasures such as Barbara Windsor and Stephen Fry are on tremendous form as the Doormouse and Cheshire cat respectively. Although the main focus of the film is on Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter,who's performance I found oddly jarring he switches accents too regularly half-English-eccntric half-broad-Scottish the latter of which he already used in Finding Neverland while at times he outstays his welcome but as it's Depp there are still moments of brilliance hidden in the turn.

The main problem with the film is Mia Wasickowaska's Alice who,despite being the protagonist, is oddly detatched mainly reacting to the weird creatures that surround her rather than anything else. And that's, in a way, why it's hard to care about the film as a whole. While the theme of the original story was to start growing up and making sensible decisions, here it is all about making choices. Alice's adventures are meant to reflect the choices she has to make in the real world, but because we aren't given much reason to care about her the conclusion is a little flat even if it is well-rounded. Overall this is an enjoyable watch and it gives something for the entire famiy to enjoy together, the film feels a little disjointed which is a shame given its a Burton film.