“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” says Alice (Mia Wasikowska) to the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).  So have I. I believed that it would be impossible for Tim Burton to make a film of Alice in Wonderland that is: 1) not funny, 2) not dark,  3) not adult, 4) dull, even with the help of 3D effects, 5) heavy handed and 6) lacking in imagination. But, curiouser and curiouser, I was wrong.

Although the script by Linda Woolverton is based on characters from Lewis Carroll’s works Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the story is a new one. Alice is 19 and about to be engaged to Hamish (Leo Bill) at a fancy lawn party. Hamish is unattractive and Alice does not know him very well. After his proposal, she excuses herself and falls down the rabbit hole. She shrinks and grows, meets the Mad Hatter and a host of other weird characters; some call her the “wrong Alice” and others insist they know her. But Alice is expected to free the inhabitants of Wonderland from the oppression of the big headed Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). She is asked to be the White Queen’s (Anne Hathaway) champion by using the Vorpal Sword to defeat the evil Jabberwocky. When Alice returns to the party, she is a changed and self-actualized woman.

The framing device of the lawn party and having an adult Alice could have been interesting. But the party scenes seem tacked on and rushed, and Alice’s shift to independent woman is forced.  I could accept the rabbit hole experience as kind of symbol for Alice’s blossoming into an adult, but the filmmakers do not even hint at that. Woolverton seems moved to make some type of feminist statement, but it is not a very clear or artful one. So what is the reason Alice is an adult? Alice’s actual adventures in Wonderland are not particularly interesting, scary or even funny. The idea of Alice as an action hero with a sword serves no purpose. Alice never seems in real danger, and we do not know enough about her to really care.

The Red Queen, and many of the other characters in Wonderland look especially cartoonish.  But they are not quite cartoonish enough to appeal primarily to children, and there is no apparent reason these characters would resonate with adults.  My thrilling experience with the IMAX 3D Avatar left me looking forward to the 3D Alice in Wonderland. While it may be unfair to compare this film to Avatar, the 3D effects here seem lackluster and pointless. Alice in Wonderland has none of the edginess and originality of Tim Burton’s other films, and Burton directs here without much humor and at a plodding pace. And with a running film of 108 minutes, this film feels much too long.

Mia Wasikowska, (who was brilliant as Sophie in the first season of HBO’s In Treatment) brings a serious and grave quality to role of Alice. She is immensely likeable, would have been wonderful in a darker retelling. But like the other actors in this film, she doesn’t have much to work with here.  Burton favorite Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter in a manner that hints at darker depths. He alternates between a foppish lisp and high pitched squeals. Depp is always appealing, and very good at playing unstable but strangely likeable characters. Like Wasikowska, he would have been more effective in a darker version of the story. Given the constraints of the script, and Burton’s uncharacteristically dull direction, Depp’s Mad Hatter just seems strange, but not strange enough. Burton’s wife, Helena Bonham Carter, does her best with the nasty Red Queen, and provides the film with rare moments of subtle humor. “I love a warm pig belly for my aching feet, “she deadpans.

For me, the best thing about this film was that I saw it at the beautiful Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan. The theater was packed with small children, but this film may not be enough of a children’s film nor is it really a film for adults. When the Mad Hatter asks Alice if he has gone mad, she replies, “I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” Sadly, that may no longer be true of Burton.

 

Alice in Wonderland.  Directed by Tim Burton.  Mia Wasikowska (Alice) Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen), Anne Hathaway (White Queen), Crispin Glover(Stayne – Knave of Hearts), Stephen Fry (Cheshire Cat), Leo Bill (Hamish)Michael Sheen (White Rabbit) and Alan Rickman (Blue Caterpillar). Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2010.

 

Gail sees a movie appears every Wednesday.

Tweet  Print This Post

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies // 4 Comments »