Alice in Wonderland

[Turtlejosh]

Well the new film has been out for some time now. If you didn't know of it, it's like a sequel in spirit to the original Disney film that we all know and love, as well as being an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and Jabbawocky. In this, Alice is now older and gets called back to Wonderland, with the Red Queen now in control and it's denizens living in fear of having their head's lopped off by the execution-happy monarch. But there is hope in the form of Alice, who the saviour of all Wonderland as she fights the Queen and her Jabbawocky.

Yes the plot does sound a bit naff, and many people will complain, but you have to give Burton some credit, the books themselves have no story arcs and if he did a more faithful adaptation, many people would complain about its random encounters without purpose. It's not the best story by far, but its certainly not the worst. Jonny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter were absolutely perfect for their roles, and they helped make the film. Depp was great at being mad as a hatter, however the shift of his accent was a bit confusing, it was like he was Scottish, Jack Sparrow, Sweeney Todd and a new creation. And there was no reason. The Queen was funny and gave an added dimension to this effectively one dimensional character, who I sorta felt bad for near the end. The minor characters were all a delight to watch, all the voice talent was brilliant, ranging from the mysterious cat and caterpillar, to the insane March Hare and angry Dormouse ;). Oh and the twins? Brilliant. However, Alice wasn't so good. She had her good points, but for a strong female character, she didn't always seem so strong.

The animation of this film was brilliant, the animals were amazingly detailed and the landscape was worthy of being called Wonderland. It suited the film perfectly. This film may not be everyone's cup of tea*, and wasn't Tim Burton's best work, but it was still a very fun film, as a friend described it, a trip on screen.  So I would totally recommend people to see it, if only for the look and the out of this world characters, they look so good on the big screen.

*See what I did there? Tea? Tea Party of the Mad Hatter? I'm a comic genius...

[Oboe]

Good review. I saw the film a few days ago and I quite enjoyed it aswell. Visually excllent, your friend was right it is a trip on screen. I'd say the Mad Hatter's constant personality change was appropriate for the character. I mean come on, he's completely off his rocker, he's not meant to make any sense.