Alice In Wonderland (2010)

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Alice in Wonderland, the much-hyped collaboration between director Tim Burton and the Disney company, is a live-action version of Lewis Carroll’s beloved classic. While not a direct sequel to the 1951 Disney animated feature film of the same name, this version uses the animated film as a springboard of sorts.

In this version of Alice, the titular character is now a young woman in her late teens, who returns to Wonderland to escape from an arranged (and surprise, for her at least) engagement party in Victorian London. Pressured, and totally not ready to answer the marriage proposal of a snobbish aristocrat, Alice runs away to follow the White Rabbit, who leads her down through the rabbit hole (viewers of the 3D version – this part was one of highlights of the 3D visual effects!), and into a whole new adventure in Wonderland.

When word first got out of Burton working on Alice for Disney, and Johnny Depp being involved in the project, expectations ran high. Burton is known for crafting dark and twisting universes, and Wonderland, the story where most of Alice takes place, seemed like a fitting candidate to be transformed by Burton’s vision. And Depp, known for inhabiting the zaniest of roles, would make the perfect Mad Hatter – no one else would seem to be able to fit in!

However, this movie’s Wonderland may not be what some might expect. This film’s setting is a bit darker, yes, but not a Burton-esque dark. Wonderland, or Underland as it is referred to by the characters in the film, is suffering due to the rule of the Red Queen (Bonham-Carter), hence the dilapidated, decaying look of some of the locales. However, it is not all gloomy – if anything, it just seems like a dreamier but less psychedelic version of the old animated film’s Wonderland. Burton still manages to create a fantastic universe, that I think, 3D or not, is quite beautiful.

The rest of the effects were nicely done, not too realistic as to lose the “magic” and dream-like state of Wonderland, but not too cartoony either, creating a fantastic world that feels “just right.”

Mia Wasikowska as Alice in Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Johnny Depp plays another weird role as the Mad Hatter, evoking Madonna with his gap-toothed smile, and channeling Edward Scissorhands and his version of Willy Wonka at the same time. It’s a more subdued, subtler Hatter, and not quite what I expected (but in a good way). He is less manic and more introspective, though still prone to bursts of zaniness, and I think it works for the character.

The actress who stole the show has to be Mia Wasikowska, a 19-year-old revelation from Australia, who was astounding as Alice. She portrays Alice magnificently. Screenwriter Linda Woolverton (known for writing Beauty and the Beast and co-wrote The Lion King) wrote Alice as the young girl growing up pressured to conform to Victorian norms, but who has grown into a bit of a rebel and is a strong-willed young woman looking to find her own path. Wasikowska portrays the character amazingly, as Alice journeys through Wonderland and becomes an empowered heroine.

The supporting cast was solid too. Helena Bonham-Carter steals the show as the big-headed (literally) Red Queen, with deadpan lines that can’t help but make you laugh. George McFly Crispin Glover is thoroughly creepy as the Knave of Hearts, spindly and quite manipulative. (Quite the opposite of the guy who used to get beat up by Biff Tannen.)

Helena Bonham-Carter as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Anne Hathaway was a bit of a weak link, as her White Queen evokes a dreamy, kind-of-hippie noble – a bit too…airheaded, for lack of a better term. I got that she was the noble, gentle queen, but her channeling Luna Lovegood of the Harry Potter franchise didn’t suit Hathaway too well, I think. The voice acting was superb, with Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar and Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat taking the cake. Others of note were Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who served as great comic relief, and Christopher Lee as the dreaded Jabberwocky, who was rightfully menacing.

One of the things I liked best about the film is the recurring theme is how Alice firmly believes that she is in but a dream, proclaiming that “this is my dream, you’re all just figments of my imagination!” A poignant scene with her and The Hatter occur, in which the realism of dreams is called into question, adding to the depth of meaning in the film. The payoff at the end was worth it, and while younger audiences will enjoy the visuals and the basic plot, the film offers adult viewers with something to digest as they leave the theatre.