LuckyWillALICE IN WONDERLAND - Mad if you Miss it
March 7th 2010 19:03
Well much to the delight of audiences, Depp has returned to that place of madness and chaos and this time he has extended the visit to a feature length fantasy. Swapping treasure hunts for tea parties; his latest outing as the Mad Hatter in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is delightfully insane and, as usual, another perfect fit for the actor. The film is about a world where the unimaginable is everywhere and reality is somewhere else. Where out of place is right at home and weird is wonderful. As Alice so aptly puts it in the 1951 version “Everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t and contrary wise, what it is it wouldn’t be and what it wouldn’t be it would.”
The 1951 animated version of Alice in Wonderland, and any others that may have popped up before or since, actually serve as the prequel to this latest 2010 sequel. While, once again, the story focuses on the journey of Alice there have been many changes to the plot. This film is set just over a decade after Alice first visits Wonderland, or rather Underland (apparently she mispronounced the name on her first arrival, this is what it should be called). She is now 19 and runs away when faced with a prearranged marriage to an awkwardly repulsive young lord. Again she sees the white rabbit, falls down the hole and starts eating and dinking whatever she finds lying around. This time, rather than scamper about in search of a way home and randomly encountering the strange inhabitants of Wonderland, Alice finds herself on a quest to defeat a Jaberwocky and save Underland from the wrath of the evil Red Queen. There are a few new characters including the White Queen, several talking animals and, as I mentioned, the Jaberwocky. While the Red Queen commands an army of card like soldiers, her sister, the White Queen, controls her own army of sleek looking chess pieces which I felt was a nice touch.
The story is interesting and is visually stunning but you just cant help but feel like it's missing something. The animated film had a sense of unpredictability to it. Scenes flowed randomly from one to another with very little connection between them; you never knew what was waiting around the corner. This version, though it tries so hard to be as equally strange, has an unshakable sense of realism to it. You know where it is going and it tries to explain itself too much. In a world where horses talk and size is an alterable quality, there isn’t really much need for a whole lot of explanations. Things happen as they do because it’s Wonderland.
Tim Burton’s dark quirky style is evident throughout and the actors certainly fill their roles perfectly. Mia Wasikowska does well as the perpetually confused Alice while Depp leaves us wanting more of the Hatter. As I said however, the film itself, as crazy as it is, has had the weirdometer unfortunately dialled down. The Cheshire cat is a perfect example of this. In 1951, the cat could appear and disappear as it does in the 2010 version. It could also return piece by piece and float around as it does now. So what’s changed? In this version the cat is one constant shape even if it only decides to reveal parts of itself at a time. In 1951, the Cheshire cat could swap its eyes over, stand (literally) on its decapitated head and send two of its legs walking around opposite sides of a tree. It was truly bizarre. The 2010 film is far too tame.
To be fair the setting of the film is different to that of the original. In the 10 years that Alice has been gone the Red Queen has seized control and destroyed her people’s land and spirits. She even killed off the cute little king if you can remember him. As a result, the film seems to foster a sedate atmosphere where the characters are strange but they lack the real kick that they once possessed. The closest any character comes to recapturing that spark is the March Hare because he is so completely unpredictable and bouncy and quite funny. The Mad Hatter, while being very strange and fascinating is still somewhat restrained by his environment and you would just love to just see him bust out and really go crazy. Even so, the tea party is still by far one of the best scenes in the film because of those two characters and it would have been great to see more of it and of Depp.
The verdict; see it at the cinemas, you can’t go wrong in 3D but just don’t set your expectations too high. Its not really anything like its predecessors and I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing. I haven't read the book so maybe this is more true to that. It would have been great if there was a bit more life and energy in it so as it stands it’s a little too dark and depressing though still fun to watch. Missing something but you've gotta love a film about a place where anything can happen.
Rating: 3 top hats/5
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