Alice in Wonderland

Release Year: 2010
Director: Tim Burton

Review: From the moment I heard that Tim Burton was doing Alice in Wonderland I knew the exact product that was going to be produced. A dark, quirky take on the tale with vivid characters but soulless execution. It’s disappointing since Burton is one the most imaginative and talented directors working, yet he seems to have fallen into a groove which he is unable or unwilling to pull himself out of. Rather than casting the same set of characters and dressing them differently, I’d like to see him channel his creative energy into a new property and really stretch his natural artistic talent.

As it stands, the latest trip into Wonderland isn’t quite a reboot, nor a sequel, but a weird middle ground where an older Alice returns to Wonderland but has no memory of it. The biggest downside is that the richly imagined Wonderland is sapped of any actual wonder. It’s a bleak, barren wasteland. If this approach were going to be taken then I’d hope it should at least be consistent. But Burton seems to be content throwing in spurts of jovial energy that comes out odd, and out of place. It turned into an uncomfortable mix of dark imagery and fanciful silliness that does not work at all. All this culminates in an awkward jig by Depp that was hyped the entire movie and was painful to actually see performed.

To make matters worse, the acting outside of Depp and Bonham Carter is universally terrible. Watching Mia Wasikowska as Alice is extraordinarily uncomfortable. Her acting seems to be part of an entirely different film, clashing with anyone else in every scene. The worst offender, however, was Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. I’m not sure what she was going for with her performance, but she comes across as having some sort of physical disability. It’s a distracting performance which adds nothing except to set the entire film off kilter. Add to the troubling acting the even more distracting CG work and there isn’t much going for ‘Alice’.

I can’t say my expectations were high going in, and even still the film was disappointing. Any magic or charm the original film had was sapped away and replaced with a clumsy hero’s quest storyline. This quest driven story been done to death and in far more interesting ways. There was potential to have a hugely creative re-imagination of the classic story, but it was squandered away with familiarity and mediocrity.

Rating: 2/5