I confess that I was never a big fan of the Alice In Wonderland
story. Perhaps it’s because I’m not the target audience whom Lewis Carroll had
in mind when he first wrote the tale over a hundred years ago. After all, it’s
about a little girl who has some pretty weird experiences worthy of an LSD trip
in a magical realm called Wonderland, after she falls down a hole in the ground
while chasing a rabbit with a watch who exclaims, "I’m late! I’m late!" (Damn…just
what kind of mushrooms were Alice and her friends eating at that picnic, anyway?)
Most of the filmed versions of Alice In Wonderland weren’t much better for me.
They were nothing more than filmed stage plays, with famous actors in minimal
makeup (all the better to see who they really are) playing the various citizens
of Wonderland.
For instance, a more recent TV version of Alice had Whoopi Goldberg playing the Cheshire Cat. While I have nothing against Goldberg personally, the fact that a famously familiar face such as hers was playing the role detracted greatly from the story for me. But along comes director Tim Burton, best known for his dark, somewhat gothic worldview, who’s hired by the Walt Disney company to do his own take on Alice’s adventures. And for the first time, I’ve found an Alice In Wonderland film that I can actually enjoy. Armed with the latest in CGI technology, Burton eschews the famous faces on parade approach of the previous Alice productions by hiding his actors--Johnny Depp among them--under either a ton of make up, or CGI effects (and sometimes both).
The result is a superb cast of actors who are doing what they do best: breathing
life into Lewis’ off-kilter characters in a fantasyland that’s truly bizarre, as
well as being an inviting place to visit. The Wonderland of Burton’s film is a sumptuous visual feast, one that really shines on Blu-Ray. It’s also a sequel to the original story, with Alice now a young woman (well played with subtle, engaging charm by Mia Wasikowska) who’s about to enter into a loveless marriage with a stuffy English Lord. Just before she accepts his formal proposal (before a huge, expectant audience), Alice runs off to chase after the familiar rabbit whom she sees flitting around the gardens. Falling once more into the rabbit hole, she winds up right back in Wonderland, yet the place has been taken over by the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, who looks like she’s having a blast).
Leave it to Burton, with his usual, off the wall sensibilities, to have Alice
lose her clothes whenever she shrinks or grows up in size (although she’s never
seen completely naked--this is a Disney film, after all). And he also sets it up
so that some of the best lines are spoken by the animals. Also, the Cheshire Cat,
with his swirling, twisty body, broad smile and easy-going charm, almost steals
the film from even Depp’s Mad Hatter. And Carter is a delight as the odious, yet
funny, Red Queen ("Off with his head!"). I got the Blu-Ray/DVD/Download combo,
and if I had any doubts that Blu-Ray was aggressively squeezing DVDs out of the
market, they were gone when I checked out the features on the DVD, which are
sparse--then compared it to the multitude of special features on the Blu-Ray.
It’s pretty obvious what format the powers that be are encouraging the consumers
to use. But as for the film itself, Alice In Wonderland is an enjoyable fantasy that’s
gorgeous to look at, as well as being aand a lot of fun for the whole family.
--SF
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