Review: Alice In Wonderland

What could be more perfect – the trippy mind of the visionary Tim Burton making the trippiest tale even trippier. And believe us when we say…. Alice in Wonderland will freak you out. This exciting concept isn’t the only core to its anticipation. When we heard Johnny Depp was to helm The Mad Hatter alongside Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, we saw something potentially wonderful on the horizon.

‘I never want to disappoint Tim Burton’ says Depp, who claims to work day and night inventing the greatest personalities for his characters. Well, his recreated Mad Hatter will disappoint no-one. Bonham Carter as the evil, but really quite funny, Red Queen is also superb and both performances bring warmth to their characters’ intriguing appearances. Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee offers some mild gags, but the praise must go to the fantastic voice-overs of Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat and Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar.

Although Burton has kept Lewis Caroll’s famous story incredibly simple, Depp says it’s more of a sequel to the classic tale. After ten years of absence, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to Wonderland where the Red Queen has abolished all beauty. Alice travels through Burton’s classically accurate yet magically refurbished Wonderland, guarded by the Red Queen’s Stayne – Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) and her weird playing card soldier things.

However, the praise ends here. The film’s reliance on its routine of weird characters after weird characters and strange scenery after strange scenery is too straightforward to make this feature length tale entertaining. It’s hard not to compare to Avatar but extract Cameron’s world and we’re still left with an uncomplicated yet captivating story with strong motives. This is where Alice in Wonderland falls flat.

Burton’s re-created Wonderland maybe more enchanting than Cameron’s Pandora, however once you become immune to the basic reliance on visual surprises,  some scenes are, well, a bit boring. This is until the final dramatic showdown, climaxing with Alice pitted against the Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee).

Let’s not forget, this is a children’s tale and this Disney infused version still flourishes for kids. Burton wouldn’t dare change the story in more drastic ways, but narrative has been sacrificed for the spectacle which has little stamina. Fantastic performances all round with some warming and intriguing scenes. But you’ll soon drift off to your own Wonderland.

3/5 Stars.