I remember having seen the first trailer of Alice in Wonderland about a year ago and being extremely excited by it. I should have known it could hardly be as good as I was hoping it to be when looking at Burton’s track record over the past few years. It’s great to see someone stay true to his style but it is unfortunate when style is about the only thing a filmmaker has to set him apart from the rest. I’m all for adding a sordid and dark layer to a well known story, as Burton often does but you know something’s wrong when someone like that joins hands with Disney. Wasn’t there a good reason Burton left Disney in the first place? Dark and gloomy just aren’t in Disney’s vocabulary ever since The Black Cauldron failed miserably at the box office. Even though there are some details about Alice in Wonderland that surprised me and seemed to be Burton’s influence, such as a eyeball ripped from a creature’s socket by a cute little mouse, there were some fatal flaws in the story that have completely destroyed my enjoyment of the film. Flaws that seemed to come straight from the dullest formula for all-ages-entertainment, which just cannot be forgiven if the source material is as fantastic as Lewis Carroll’s work.
But keep in mind that the plot for Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is only remotely related to the original book. I didn’t mind the changes even though I did not understand why they mentioned that Wonderland was supposed to be Underland as it added absolutely nothing to the development of the story. Was it just a silly joke then, about Alice’s foolishness as a young girl? Well, that just adds to the incredible misogynist tone that I noticed in some parts during the film. I found it completely unforgivable when certain cruel remarks were made about Alice’s aunt Imogene, a plot element that reminded me of a situation in Jane Austen’s Emma. In this book however Emma was scolded for her behaviour that was a result of her complete selfishness and narcissism, and showed a great deal of remorse about it in the end. No such thing happens in Alice. It is perfectly fine to casually mention that a woman who was never married is a foolish (and probably schizophrenic) creature.
Despite these unfortunate mistakes there were some things about Alice that were well made. Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen, although a spitting image of Blackadder’s Queenie, is gloriously over the top and wonderfully wicked, Alan Rickman’s Caterpillar is deliciously slow and Stephen Fry’s Cheshire Cat is as erratic and hedonistic as should be expected of this character. Johnny Depp is fine as the Mad Hatter though it remains unclear why his accent should shift from upper-class lisping English to growling Scottish, unless it is merely to point out that he is very mad indeed. Oh deary me.
So even though some of the characters are well executed, though with a cast like this there were absolutely no risks taken, the film itself makes a mockery of Carroll’s work. A mockery that can be perfectly illustrated with one terrible moment at the end of the film when the Mad Hatter breaks out in an strange sort of break-dance, the beats start pumping and everyone is laughing merrily about what an odd character this Hatter is. Vomit.
But keep in mind that the plot for Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is only remotely related to the original book. I didn’t mind the changes even though I did not understand why they mentioned that Wonderland was supposed to be Underland as it added absolutely nothing to the development of the story. Was it just a silly joke then, about Alice’s foolishness as a young girl? Well, that just adds to the incredible misogynist tone that I noticed in some parts during the film. I found it completely unforgivable when certain cruel remarks were made about Alice’s aunt Imogene, a plot element that reminded me of a situation in Jane Austen’s Emma. In this book however Emma was scolded for her behaviour that was a result of her complete selfishness and narcissism, and showed a great deal of remorse about it in the end. No such thing happens in Alice. It is perfectly fine to casually mention that a woman who was never married is a foolish (and probably schizophrenic) creature.
Despite these unfortunate mistakes there were some things about Alice that were well made. Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen, although a spitting image of Blackadder’s Queenie, is gloriously over the top and wonderfully wicked, Alan Rickman’s Caterpillar is deliciously slow and Stephen Fry’s Cheshire Cat is as erratic and hedonistic as should be expected of this character. Johnny Depp is fine as the Mad Hatter though it remains unclear why his accent should shift from upper-class lisping English to growling Scottish, unless it is merely to point out that he is very mad indeed. Oh deary me.
So even though some of the characters are well executed, though with a cast like this there were absolutely no risks taken, the film itself makes a mockery of Carroll’s work. A mockery that can be perfectly illustrated with one terrible moment at the end of the film when the Mad Hatter breaks out in an strange sort of break-dance, the beats start pumping and everyone is laughing merrily about what an odd character this Hatter is. Vomit.
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