In 2010, Tim Burton released Alice in Wonderland, based on Lewis Carroll’s novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Tim Burton's Alice doesn't have the wide-eyed wonder of the 7-year-old Alice, because well, she's a bit jaded and thinks her adventures in the offbeat land are just part of an elaborate dream from which she'll eventually awaken. Alice in Wonderland represents her second time to Underland ("Wonderland" is what her silly younger self apparently called it), but she can't remember her earlier adventure. As Alice in Wonderland opens, Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) is seven and a half and admits to her father that she thinks she's gone around the bend because she keeps dreaming about falling down a rabbit hole into another world. Thirteen years later, a now fatherless 19-year-old Alice finds herself being publicly proposed to until she excuses herself to run away and winds up following a rabbit down a hole that leads to Underland, a magical place where she's asked again and again if she's THEE Alice. Her new acquaintances, who include a white rabbit (voiced by Stephen Fry), a Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), a chain-smoking caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and roly poly twins Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Matt Lucas), reveal that if she IS the "right" Alice, she's destined to slay the evil Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee), defeat the bloodthirsty, big-headed Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), and restore the peace-loving White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to power. To do the seemingly impossible, Alice must accept that Underland isn't a figment of her imagination and fulfill her destiny.
Wasikowska is a golden-haired vision of adolescent girl power, who doesn't need to be engaged to a stuffy, uptight Lord, and she's spectacularly brave while remaining a subtle, soft-spoken, self-assured young woman. While Alice is a good character, her arc leaves a bit to be desired as well. The idea of a girl bored with the stiffness and rigidity of the expectations regarding her behavior in the Victorian era is nothing new and was explored in the 1951 film. What's so charming about the story is that Alice is like the wise caterpillar, about to transform into something else entirely. And then there's Depp, who at this point must share half a brain with Burton. His Hatter is bonkers all right, but he's also funny, self-sacrificial, and courageous. There's no one else who could've played the part, because Depp is a master at portraying loopy men, although personally I am not a Depp fan so his role in the movie does deter me from watching it regularly. The rest of the cast is satisfyingly thick with sterling British thespians and personalities, from Lindsay Duncan as Alice’s mother to a splendid voice cast that includes Alan Rickman as the hookah-smoking caterpillar, Sir Christopher Lee the Jabberwocky, Timothy Spall as royal bloodhound Bayard and Matt Lucas digitally duplicated into the chatterbox twin Tweedles, Dum and Dee.
Helena Bonham Carter’s tyrannical wacko is sensationally fun, her grotesquely enlarged head miraculously topping a diminutive body. Even the cold-hearted Red Queen isn't purely evil, she has a tiny body and gigantic head, with a lollipop-heart shaped hairdo, a motif reproduced in a horrid little lipstick pout. Her big-headedness has made her awfully insecure, and because of that she delights in inflicting pain on others. Bonham Carter is, as always, brilliant as the petty and jealous sovereign who really just wants to cuddle up with her head henchman Stayne (Crispin Glover). Notably though, its depiction of the Jabberwocky is where the film eventually falls a little bit short. Here the audience is presented with a monstrous character, one that’s practically made for the kind of film Burton makes. But all that’s delivered is a short battle and two lines spoken by the character before its tongue is cut off. Not only is this a waste of a character as there could have been so much surrounding it such as why he sees the Vorpal Sword as an enemy, why he sides with the Red Queen and is loyal to her and why he sleeping by the battlefield, but it’s a waste of talent as well considering the voice actor was Christopher Lee. This doesn’t even go into how the creature in the original poem was called the Jabberwock.
Burton is above all a brilliant visual artist, and his film is a pleasure to regard. He brings to Carroll's characters an appearance as distinctive and original as Tenniel's classic illustrations. Although for someone who studied animation, the CGI in this just isn't for me. The more and more CGI is developed over the years the more I believe practical effects should be used when necessary. There is just so much of it in this movie it's too distracting, however there is even more of it in Jon Faveau's The Jungle Book remake so it could be just what Tim burton has done with the movie that makes me dislike it.
The film is enchanting in its mordant way until, unfortunately, it arrives at its third act. The film develops an intriguing story and then dissolves it in routine and boring action. We've seen every conceivable battle sequence, every duel, all carnage, countless showdowns and all-too-long fights to the finish. I just don't see why Alice in wonderland should end on an action sequence.
Easter Eggs
#1 Alice's shoes
When Alice leaves to think over Hamish's proposal and chases after the White Rabbit, her shoes have become flats, but after her fall, when she stands up to check the doorknobs, her shoes have heels once again.
#2 Alice's Necklace
Alice's necklace keeps disappearing and reappearing after falling down the rabbit hole.
#3 Red Queen's Castle
In the Red Queen's castle, after the Mad Hatter is arrested, you see a large mural on her wall around the doors. There you can see the Red Queen riding the Jabberwocky in the same looking armor as Alice later wears. You can also see the Pheonix from the book "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland"
#4 Sleepy Hollow
When Alice walks through the little door and arrives in Underland, if you look at the tree next to the stairs. It is the same tree as the tree of the dead in Sleepy Hollow, another Tim Burton movie.
#5 Hidden Mickey
Not gonna lie, it was pretty difficult trying to find a hidden Mickey in the movie the one I did find may just be a coincidence but hey I'm gonna say it counts. If you look at the Red Queen's bodice on her dress the red gems are arranged to form a subtle hidden mickey mouse head.
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