Review: Alice In Wonderland (the newest one)

A new arrival at the library!  Didn't even have to wait for the Netflix queue to reach it :)  Today's movie chatter:  Alice in Wonderland (the Tim Burton one)

Plot:  Mostly based on the original Lewis Carrol stories.  Alice is now 19, though, and falls down the rabbit hole while running away from her own engagement party.  She has returned to Underland (the Wonderland of her childhood), now in the grip of the Red Queen's reign of terror. According to prophesy, Alice is destined to free Underland from the Red Queen's rule and restore the White Queen to her rightful throne. 

For cast, they certainly pulled in a good assortment.  Alice (Mia Wasikowska) showed a good range as she took responsibility for her choices, a good 'growing up' role.  Like in any version of the Wonderland stories, Alice gains strength in Wonderland to return to the challenges she's facing in her real life (in this version, an unwanted engagement and overbearing relatives), and Wasikowska portrays this change well.  I'm looking forward even more now to seeing the new Jane Eyre, as she plays Jane.  Helena Bonham Carter's always fun, particularly with such an eccentric character (though I don't understand why they had the subplot of her enormous head - was that in the original stories?  It's been so long since I read them...)  I liked Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, though her affected hand mannerisms did get a little annoying.  I loved Alan Rickman and Christopher Lee (the Caterpillar and the Jabberwocky, respectively).  So experienced, those voices can just ooze personality into just a few lines.  Speaking of personality, Stephen Fry was great as the Cheshire Cat.  Fry just has a great vocal range and is so much fun to listen to.  The scene stealer was Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter though.  It's the perfect type of outlandish character that Depp does well.  I liked how his voice swung back and forth through ranges and accents.  My favorite was the ominous voice reciting the Jabberwocky poem to Alice to tell her about the creature.  Truly a mad Hatter.

Speaking of frequent Tim Burton collaborators, the Danny Elfman soundtrack fit beautifully.  Part cheery and part dark, it suited Burton's Underland to a T.

This is certainly a more visual movie than an emotional one.  As much as I liked the cast,  it was still a rather superficial treatment of the story.  Fun, but not emotionally gripping.  The visuals, however, were given free reign.  The characters could just be walking through the scenes, no story involved, and it would still be fun to watch.  The Tim Burton dark, artistic touch works well with this world.  There are so many details and so much life in the world he's created - very fun to watch.  Some of the character designs are a little over the top (like Johnny Depp's make-up) but it's still a good visual feast.

That being said, it's has the Tim Burton movie darker touches as well.  You do see a little violence, and some of the macabre touches that mark his pictures (the moat at the Red Queen's palace, for example).  Not that it's a bad thing - Alice is more grown up now, and so is her Wonderland - just that it's not all cheer and sunshine in Burton's Wonderland.

Final thought on the visuals.  The CGI for the most part is very well done.  I loved the Cheshire Cat's smokiness as the appears and disappears - no simple fade in and out.  The world as a whole was beautifully set up with the CGI, and for the most part, it's all very seamless.  It's interesting to notice that the CGI is actually most obvious on the characters not touched by the animation - the White Queen, the Hatter, Alice, etc.  And like in several recent movies (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for example) it's also noticeable when they animate otherwise realistic animals - the horses, Bayard the hound, and Bayard's family were the examples in this film.  If you're going to animate them anyways, make them a little more stylized so that it's not quite as... noticeable isn't the right word, since if they're stylized you'll notice they're animated anyways... jarring, maybe?  You know what I'm trying to say?  Oh, and I do think the Hatter's dance at the end was simply added to play with the CGI  :)

Overall: 3 of 5.  I liked it and would watch it again, but I don't necessarily see it on my shelf.

And because I like poster series like this...