Sunday, April 25, 2010

Alice in Wonderland

From this point forward, I’m gonna need a new sliding scale when rating 3D movies. Unless the 3D actually enhances the experience, when I get robbed for an extra three bucks, these movies will automatically get docked a point. At normal price Alice in Wonderland would have been one of the better Tim Burton films but they mugged me for a few extra bucks and this is my only payback.

It would probably have helped if I had read the book somewhere in the last couple of decades but I have not so any changes made to the plot flew right over my head. In fact, the whole point was that Alice was much older and everything had changed and blah blah blah. So it was supposed to be a where are they now and look at the destruction caused by the Red Queen sequel. All very amusing if the story of Alice in Wonderland is not some sort of sacred text to you.

This was a Tim Burton movie so of course there was Johnny Depp. Now it would have been difficult, but not impossible, for Johnny to portray Alice. Instead he gets the other iconic role of the Mad Hatter which is just exactly as it should be. What I’m saying is that this was in no way a stretch. Still fun to watch him create something weird. Part two; this was a Tim Burton movie so of course there was Helena Bonham Carter. She may have even outweirded Johnny in this one. Her Red Queen was the highlight of the movie, just pure insanity. Mia Wasikowska was fine as Alice but aging her to late teens took away some of the fun of having the young girl experiencing such a strange world. Good voice work from Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, and others rounded out the performances.

Let's just finish by saying that the 3D effects were pointless. I don't remember a single scene that was improved by being brought to me in the third dimension. This new Hollywood cash grab is fricking offensive.

8 out of 10

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