I wonder if Lewis Carroll was aware of how popular Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was going to be when he unleashed his trippy fairy tale starring punctual white rabbits and hookah-smoking caterpillars upon the world back in 1865. Since then, there have been at least 2 television series, 9 comic book interpretations, a song by Jefferson Airplane, a Tom Petty music video, about a million references on Lost, and nearly 20 film adaption ranging from straight adaptations to variations in the horror and adult film genre.
The latest rendition is more or less presented as a sequel to the 1951 animated classic of the same name. Imagine The Chronicles of Narnia with Carroll’s characters and as told by Tim Burton and you’ll get a pretty good picture of what this film is. Alice is much older and is finding herself turned off by life’s most recent developments. She’s not quite sure she wants to grow up if growing up means becoming like the boring snobs around her. Alice is also a daydreamer, which is why her ideals are rarely popular with others. She has been puzzled by the same recurring dream ever since she was a child. As you’ve probably guessed by now, she dreams of Wonderland. While venting from an improper marriage proposal from an improper man, she stumbles into a rabbit hole and discovers that her vivid dream has come to life. Within reason, Alice rarely considers the experience as anything more than a hallucination. As a result, she just goes with the flow.
Along the way, she encounters a slew of strange characters, most of which are played by Burton’s regulars, including: Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, Michael Gough as the Dodo, and a surprise voice appearance from Christopher Lee. All of which, I might add, are upstaged by the always lovely Anne Hathaway, who plays the White Queen as a blend between Cinderella‘s Fairy Godmother and Wednesday Addams. Another notable mention is Stephen Fry, whose distinct voice is perfect for the Cheshire Cat. In fact, despite all of the film’s flaws, the casting is really where the film shines.
If Alice has one major shortcoming, it’s the atmosphere. Burton has designed a Wonderland that is wonderful, but not quite wondrous. With today’s technology, you can make a Wonderland that is vibrant with color and wall to wall with imagination. Oh, Burton’s world is colorful, but it’s mostly painted with darker, gothic sensibilities. Don’t get me wrong, Burton offers up a visual appetizer that will no doubt leave most of his fans satisfied. But at the same time, there is this cartoonish quality that I find difficult to overlook. While imaginative, the world is never depicted as a real place and therefore you could never believe that Alice is any real trouble. In turn, any potential that the audiences has to exhibit suspense is sacrificed. To clarify, it looks good in a Disneyland sort of way, but not quite the Wonderland that I’ve been dying to see.
Throughout the film, I got the sense that the filmmakers were trying to make this into an epic film. Their biggest mistake was to do so without opening up the world. The journeys to and from locations are never arduous. One minute, Alice is leaving the Red Queen’s castle and the next, she is arriving at home of the White Queen, a trip that I would perceive to be far less instantaneous. Alice rarely has any struggles in the film and the trials that her character should endure are given to supporting characters, like the Mad Hatter. Other than dealing with a few minor scratches and some size issues, Alice is given only one major conflict, which isn’t introduced until the final act. Until then, she simply travels from location to location and acts more like a spectator than the participant she really needed to be.
Burton’s interpretation is, for the most part, delightfully entertaining, but it doesn’t quite feel like the definitive Alice film. The performances are gratifying all around and the movie is bound to make you smile from time to time, but the film articulates only a superficial kind of entertainment. It lacks the sense of suspense that is necessary to directly grab the audience and take them for a ride. Not even the extra dimension added by wearing polarized glasses can make up for that. I’m sure the future will bring us a version of Alice in Wonderland that is far more intellectually satisfying, but until then, this will do.
Tags: Alice in Wonderland review
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