Review: Alice in Wonderland
It seemed like a safe bet that Tim Burton's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's beloved Alice in Wonderland stories would be delightfully strange and gorgeous, with a cast that was sure to make it a beloved film. Unfortunately with a schizophrenic plot and murky imagery, it's likely to be the least favorite Burton film among those who call themselves fans.
A brief prelude of Alice as a nightmare-troubled child quickly turns into a garden party intended to announce Alice's engagement, only adult Alice is the last to know. Not surprisingly, she falls down a rabbit hole and proceeds to have adventures big and small with such unlikely allies as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, the Dormouse, and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) while avoiding the decapitation-happy Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).
One would rightly expect such a fantastic tale to have vibrant colors and outlandish costumes, but the color palette is murky to the point of people questioning the quality of the projection. It seems to be intended, however, as Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is pallid and in pale blue, and even the Cheshire Cat is dark grey and blue, and hard to see. The 3D effects, what little there are, are wasted, and not worth the extra cost of a 3D screening.
It's as if Burton intended for everything to have a dreamlike quality but instead it seemed more like an opium fog, echoing the somber misfit quality of Edward Scissorhands with none of the charm, and a Cliff Notes version at that. The script was written by Linda Woolverton, who wrote Disney's The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast -- two stories that, if not superlative, at least had streamlined plots. Unfortunately, Alice in Wonderland may hit certain plot points, but flails on the way to each one.
The script isn't the only problem; Burton can't seem to get an engaging performance out of any of his actors in Alice in Wonderland. Depp, a frequent collaborator with Burton, brings very little to the screen as the unbalanced Hatter, who either speaks in Lispy English accent or a threatening Scottish Burr. As a central figure in Alice's adventure, one would expect more charm in a character that begs for an actor who can chew up the scenery, something Depp clearly can do, but doesn't seem to bother here. Wasikowska seems even less sure of herself than Alice, but considering Depp's performance, it may not be her lack of skill as an actor, but the direction. Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen as an overmedicated New Ager with trouble holding her head still or straightening her arms. Only Bonham Carter, in the other scene-chewing role as the Red Queen, gets an opportunity to have fun ... although forget about any character development.
Burton's latest is the third re-imagining of the classic Lewis Carroll tale of a girl who travels to a fantastical world in just two years, and not the only one to play fast and loose with the plot. Just a few months ago the SyFy channel aired the miniseries Alice, which imagines Wonderland as an emotion harvesting dictatorship, and the independent feature Phoebe in Wonderland turns Alice's story as allegory for a girl with Tourrette's syndrome. Both are superior to Burton's adaptation.
It's a shame that the choice was made to deviate so strongly from the original stories. The only real value in the film is that perhaps it might encourage people to read them.