Alice In Wonderland
Directed By: Tim Burton
Written By: Linda Wolvertoon
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helenha Bohman Carter, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas and Stephen Fry
Tim Burton, is a director who specializes in dark, imaginative, gothic and exciting films which are filled with visual wonder as well as quirky characters and gripping stories. Which is why it seemed like the perfect partnership when he was announced to take Alice In Wonderland back to the big screen. However this film is anything but wonderful…
This version of Alice shows her now all grown up and having recurring nightmares where she is falling down some mysterious hole and sees a white rabbit. When she is asked for her hand in marriage she runs away and lands back in Wonderland or Underland as it is actually called. However not only has she been here before but she must slay the Jabberwocky…
Alice In Wonderland is a visual treat with the special effects and art direction providing a glorious setting for the films events. However beyond the great visuals nothing else in this film amazes, grips, moves or excites you. The film is incredibly dull and by the end tedious. There is no emotional weight or investment in anything leaving you rather cold for the 1 hour and 40 minute run time which seems much longer. The film is also bizarrely predictable and formulaic, going through the motions of a Disney fantasy film and it never really feels like you are watching a Tim Burton film. Its missing Burtons magic touch, which you usually see in his films, which is strangely missing here. What this film needed was to take the story and make a dark, scary, interesting, brave and dangerous Tim Burton film rather than a safe, predictable, dull and tedious Disney family film.
While it may sound odd criticizing a family film for not being dark enough, many family films are dark and scary (see Sid in the original Toy Story) and there is no excuse for the lack of excitement or wonder. The performances in this film do not help the cause in the slightest with them either being overly quirky and over the top (im looking at you Johnny Depp, Helenha Bohman Carter and Anne Hathaway) or wooden and dull like the rest of the film (Mia Wasikowska) a film with such a good cast, such an imaginative director at the helm and such a great visual world should not be this boring and this lacking in all the elements that make an exciting film. There is no peril or excitement in any section of the film, no great desire to see these characters again, its poorly written, mishandled and overall a massive missed opportunity with something that could have been really great instead being reduced to something so tedious and so lacking in wonder that you cant help and make the same pun everybody else is…its Alice In Blunderland.
One Sentence Summary: Visually impressive but nothing more than that, this is one important date you should want to be late for, Quite possibly Tim Burton’s worst film or at least his most disappointing.
4/10
This version of Alice shows her now all grown up and having recurring nightmares where she is falling down some mysterious hole and sees a white rabbit. When she is asked for her hand in marriage she runs away and lands back in Wonderland or Underland as it is actually called. However not only has she been here before but she must slay the Jabberwocky…
Alice In Wonderland is a visual treat with the special effects and art direction providing a glorious setting for the films events. However beyond the great visuals nothing else in this film amazes, grips, moves or excites you. The film is incredibly dull and by the end tedious. There is no emotional weight or investment in anything leaving you rather cold for the 1 hour and 40 minute run time which seems much longer. The film is also bizarrely predictable and formulaic, going through the motions of a Disney fantasy film and it never really feels like you are watching a Tim Burton film. Its missing Burtons magic touch, which you usually see in his films, which is strangely missing here. What this film needed was to take the story and make a dark, scary, interesting, brave and dangerous Tim Burton film rather than a safe, predictable, dull and tedious Disney family film.
While it may sound odd criticizing a family film for not being dark enough, many family films are dark and scary (see Sid in the original Toy Story) and there is no excuse for the lack of excitement or wonder. The performances in this film do not help the cause in the slightest with them either being overly quirky and over the top (im looking at you Johnny Depp, Helenha Bohman Carter and Anne Hathaway) or wooden and dull like the rest of the film (Mia Wasikowska) a film with such a good cast, such an imaginative director at the helm and such a great visual world should not be this boring and this lacking in all the elements that make an exciting film. There is no peril or excitement in any section of the film, no great desire to see these characters again, its poorly written, mishandled and overall a massive missed opportunity with something that could have been really great instead being reduced to something so tedious and so lacking in wonder that you cant help and make the same pun everybody else is…its Alice In Blunderland.
One Sentence Summary: Visually impressive but nothing more than that, this is one important date you should want to be late for, Quite possibly Tim Burton’s worst film or at least his most disappointing.
4/10
