First off there are no spoilers! Please enjoy!
Well I went and saw Alice in Wonderland today, I was able to get tickets to the midnight showing which was rather fun! I’m awake at those hours anyways so it gave me something to do at 12:00-2:00am. Earlier yesterday I had finished my final and decided to reward myself with a showing of Alice in Wonderland!
I must say I’m a little surprised there’s not a million journal entries already up but I’m sure there will be.
Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland is actually a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Interestingly enough it’s a sequel to a sequel which makes it a trilogy spanning the entire “Alice” series. Through the Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland, and then you have Tim Burton’s Alice which takes place when Alice is much older and returning to Wonderland of which she can’t quite recall but only does so in the form of it all being a dream for her. She is set to be betrothed to some strange looking guy with food allergies, at the big moment she notices the White Rabbit chasing after him and falling into the rabbit hole and thus begins the adventure.
We encounter the familiar door scene in the Disney version offering it’s similar challenges of the “Eat Me” “Drink Me” cake and some elizer in a bottle. After entering through the door, we’re thrust into the world of Wonderland and pretty much Immediately encounter all the familiar and beloved characters. It seems a bit rushed perhaps but assuming you know the Alice in Wonderland story you’ll fall in love with the re imagining of the characters.
In this story the Red Queen/Queen of Hearts yes i know that’s two different characters but in ths movie they’ve sort of combined the two, has taken over wonderland and turned it into a more grim place. Alice in the mean time is rediscovering everything somewhat briefly and trying to find out what her purpose is being back in Wonderland. Our main group of heroes that being the Tweedles, the Hatter, the hare, the door mouse, and the cheshire cat, tell her about a prophecy that tells of her slaying the Jabberwocky of which we only hear of in the original story. Through out the film Alice discovers her mission and what she needs to do leading to the climax of the film.
It’s really a charming story over all, I suppose you could say it’s a slow start, but for those of you with a liking to Jane Austin and other victorian-esue era stories will enjoy it, once the plot proceeds into wonderland it picks up considerably, althouhg a little too fast in my opinion. There’s some great humor through out and the characters are vibrant, lovable and iconic as ever. The Queen of Hearts is quite humorous and Helena adds her own brilliant performance, MUCH more enjoyable than Disney’s Fred Flinstone clone of a queen, sorry Disney you dropped the ball on that character quite badly it makes me ill, Helena’s got you owned. Depp’s performance as the Hatter was great and you get some good giggles from his quirkiness as well as experience “Fuddlewacking” of which you’ll just have to find out what that exactly is. I was a bit concerned form the previews he seemed too much like Jack Sparrow, but after seeing the film, Depp does a good job of making it a new and different character, definitely far from Sparrow or any of his other rolls. The classic Burton cast returns as well Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, Christopher Lee as the Jabberwocky, and some new faces, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Matt Lucas as the Tweedles, and Stephen Fry voicing the Cheshire cat. I really enjoyed the performance of the March Hare, the Tweedles, and the Cheshire cat! And of course i can’t forget to mention Alice herself! Mia Wasikovska did a brilliant job as Alice! She’s a very likable character and has a bit of a quirky side of her as well which is a really nice touch to the movie, I personally hope to see her more in future Burton films.
Over all the new Alice in Wonderland is a good movie, not great or outstanding like Avatar was for me. It was charming, humorous, fun, and an enjoyable watch! I see myself liking this movie more over time and I’ll most definitely end up buying it.
I felt a bit like I wanted to see more of it all, more of the characters really. The ending was good, and satisfying, but it felt like it could have had a bit more “Muchness” to it. Not that it was lacking, but something just felt a bit…missing? I can’t pin down the word. But over all it really was a good movie. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone. There are some surprisingly gruesome parts int he movie but that’s a little Burton in there if you ask me, felt a little reminiscent of Sweeney Todd. Speaking of Burton, this didn’t really feel like a Bruton film to me, it felt Burton-esque but just enough that it gave Alice in Wonderland it’s own flavor.
On a scale of 1-10 I’d give this movie a 7/10
So if you’re looking for a movie to watch to get you out of the winter woes we’ve been having go check out Alice in Wonderland!
I also gotta mention this, artist Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera of Imaginism Studios lent their designs of the Cheshire Cat, the Red Queen/Queen of Hearts, The Tweedles and the Bandersnatch to this movie! It was amazing to watch their designs come to life!

















