Review: Alice in Wonderland on Blu-ray...............

Burton's foray into majority CG is a futterwhackened and often fantastical adventure without the 3d...............................

Review Opinion

By 48and2 - Jun 03, 2010 02:06 PM EST

Filed Under: Disney

Without the 3d, I find it to be a moderate success. Not without giant flaws, it's better than mediocre and meant to appeal to the child in us all.

This is a fantasy/adventure movie.

I'm not going to overanalyze this one. I'll just lay out a very vague synopsis, because it succeeds on the visual front more than in story. That and many have already seen it.

Reenvisioned by Burton, and his legion of production perverts, this "retelling" of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland becomes a simple allegory for the power of dreams, imagination, the effects of ingesting interesting substances, and the dangers of treating others without respect and having a very very swelled head, literally and figuratively. It begins in the real world, and as Alice falls down the standard rabbit hole (revealed under one of Burton's signature twisted trees), her expectedly bizarre journey begins. Traveling "Wonderland", remeeting the original characters, discovering and completing her objective of saving Wonderland, and thus finding herself and her place in the real world. Of course, every character in Wonderland has their real world counterpart.

Alice (Mia Wasikowska): If tall blondes are your thing, you'll love her; if very very petite blondes are your thing, you'll love her. And if these don't do it for you, there's always the normal sized Alice. Burton's Alice is all grown up... almost... fortunately his overused gothic theme is toned down a bit. Anyway, she's turns in a good Alice - it's naturalistic and not at all stilted. The "size" effects look very real, and considering it's a lot of pretend acting against nothing, it's very good. We'll be seeing more of her. 3.5/5

The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp): Depp's interpretation of the hatter has been greatly panned on this site. It is without one doubt absolutely silly and ridiculous, but let me tell you this - I don't think there is a younger kid (say 10 and under) who wouldn't love it. As I had surmised Depp's character, and the original, are based upon actual hatters driven mad by their mercury laden glue (discussed in the featurettes). It is an original creation, because he incorporated all sorts of madness, and made him into a multiple personality who goes back and forth between a lispy dweeb, a wired Hatter, and an angry Scottsman. I can understand the apprehension, but anyone who takes this seriously and thinks this is the direction he would take with a more serious character like a Nolan version of The Riddler is, themself, mad as a hatter. Let us all not forget when a crazy dweeb with a lisp dancing and throwing hats around would be infinitely amusing. 3/5

The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter): If there's one truly weak link, this is it. She doesn't totally ruin the movie, but she's undeniably miscast - it definitely could've been alot better. Not to mention, that malformed gigantic head is somewhat disgusting and distracting to sit through 2 hours looking at. 2/5

The White Queen (Anne Hathaway): Looking all dressed up for the ball with corpses - a little heavy on the makeup, appearing almost clown like. But with a sophisticated affected manner. The benevolent leader of her queendom, whose code is not to hurt anyone or anything. She's mediocre in this role. For me, it could've been better, and I think she'd have been more effective if they went a little easier on the makeup. I guess they were really pushing hard for that "White" clown err Queen look. 2.5/5

Stayne (Crispen Glover): I've never cared as much for him as many on this site. He's pretty much type cast as a softspoken weird, and cowardly whiny douchebag, and this role is exactly that. He's watchable, but very one dimensional. A very annoying character, but will probably appeal to kids as the bad guy. 2.5/5

Fully CG animated characters worth mentioning:

The White Rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen): The legendary character that of course taunts Alice down the rabbithole, nervous with a very high metabolism.

The Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry): The most noteworthy voiced character - A memorable new version of this beloved standard.

Blue Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman): We all know Alan Rickman's one of the best things about anything he's in. This is a small role, considering. And, to me, not the most impressive version ever. But it's consistent.

Tweetledee and Tweetledum (voiced Matt Lucas) The very annoying fat twins with big round faces, beady eyes, and closely set features, that finish eachother's sentences.

Bayard (voiced by Timothy Spall) Tremendous animation on this one

CG/cinematography/set design/costumes: It's rich and grand and strange and bizarre; exactly what you might expect if Burton's earlier movies had been cg. Alot more detailed than Wonka. Really, not counting the actors, it's a blend of probably 80/20 cg/props (the majority consisting of overused Burtonesque trees and buildings). Where it shines very much is in the animation of the characters. Platoons of cards and chessmen moving around, and battling it out in the end. I don't want to give the end away, so I'll leave it at that - let's just say they save the best for last. Burton's cinematography has never been anything special to me. The costuming and set design in general's rich in secondary colors, and earth tones. Pale skin and dark rings under everyone's eyes. It's Burton does Victorian and still can't resist pushing the goth.

Sound/Music: Oingo Boingo in the house! actually the music's relatively original and good for Elfman, considering his standard fare - has very dramatic moments and some well timed funny themes. The sound effects are probably above average, but nothing extraordinary. 3/5

Blu-ray features: I didn't buy the super deluxe version, but I'm perfectly satisfied with the presentation of the lesser version. 1080p, and a 480i option, Dolby 5.1; Wonderland Characters a 6 part featurette regarding the reinterpretation and recreation of the famous characters, and Making Wonderland another 6 part featurette on making the film. Just average, nothing spectacular. 2.5/5

We all know Burton's a goth obsessed "weirdo", but you know, the world is in need of even a few of these. One thing I can say about the direction of this film, is that Burton's finally been able to successfully adapt and use cg to bring out some truly original visual dynamics. If you're looking for an immeasurably profound story and characters, this is probably not the movie for you. If however you want to chill out for a couple hours and take an original mostly visual driven trip to fantasy land, this is the movie for you. It has a simple moral that even young kids can understand, and it is visually quite impressive. A great film for the family.

3 out of 5

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2 Comments

LEEE777 - 6/3/2010, 7:47 PM

Well i didn't see this on BLU-RAY @48, but I'll give in 3 outta 5!

Funny only just watched it a couple of nights ago for the first time, could've been a tad better, but i enjoyed it, probably better in 3D though lol!

Cool review dude! :)

48and2 - 6/4/2010, 3:12 PM

thanks guys

I just kind of stood back and watched it without the fanboy thing, and it's halfway decent. I don't think I'd spend the extra bucks on the deluxe version though.

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