This is not the right Alice indeed. The newest fantastical film in Tim Burton’s repertoire, “Alice in Wonderland,” opened with huge box office success but lacks the flavor and lure of previous works by the seasoned director.
As far as Burton films go, the Alice undertaking is not his best. True, all the essential Burton elements are there – dark undertones, eccentric characters, creative use of color, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. But the point remains that while the film is good, it is nothing too special or exciting.
The plot sets around Alice’s return to Wonderland where she is to defeat a huge, dragon-like creature, if she believes she can do it. An hour or so into the film she finally plucks up some courage and beheads the thing. Predictable plot and typical happy ending, yet still maintains a feel-good vibe.
Part of the predictability comes from the casting choices of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.
While Depp always brings a uniqueness and certain charm to the character he portrays, the most interesting thing about the Mad Hatter is his appearance, an explosion of clashing colors and a hat with sentimental value (“Pirates of the Caribbean” much?).
Featured in most of Burton’s films because of his domestic relationship with her, Bonham Carter managed to pull off the bipolar part of the Red Queen with body image issues well, especially with the multiple use of the one-line “off with their heads.”
Anne Hathaway, what has happened to you? Her character lacked color both physically and dramatically. She came off as a vapid, forgiving White Queen who could have been cut entirely without anyone missing a beat.
Portraying Alice in a breakthrough performance was Mia Wasikowska. She kept up well with her more famous and trained costars, but did not outshine them in the long run.
Wasikowska’s transitions from the frame-story set in the Victorian age, to Wonderland and back to the frame-story were smooth and believable, and her interpretation allowed the audience to sympathize with her situation. However, the plotline did not leave much room for a significant outburst of character creativity. At the same time, Wasikowska has the potential to grow for further films.
Movies.yahoo.com report the MPAA rating as PG, “for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.” Had the MPAA allowed for a higher rating, it is quite possible the range of inventiveness and exploration of the darker themes in Wonderland could have been opened up. Instead, in order to get little kiddies to jack up the number of ticket sales, the rating was lowered and the content was toned down, translating to a lower-quality production.
The large opening at the box office means the previews and hype before the film’s release did its job of creating public interest, but it will be interesting to see as the weeks pass how much of that interest stays, gaining momentum or declining to a modest intake.
