In this Tim Burton version of the classic fairy tale, Alice returns to Wonderland, now 19 years old. Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska) doesn’t remember going to Wonderland before, but still meets all of the old characters that she met in her original trip.
The most notable characters are Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat and Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar. Helena Bonham Carter, who played the Red Queen, steals the show in this movie and is far more interesting than Alice.
Actually, everyone was more interesting than Alice, now that I think about it.
To be honest, I was less than thrilled by Anne Hathaway’s performance as the White Queen. Her hands were up in an awkward position the whole time, and that combined with the airy voice made me cringe every time she had screen time.
Even thought this movie was post-converted into 3-D, it still was visually stunning. I did notice there were a couple of cheap 3-D tricks that were mixed in. For example, random things would get thrown toward the audience throughout the film. Strangely enough, I enjoyed those moments. My thinking is that if I have to pay extra to see a movie in 3-D, I had better experience something that I wouldn't get from watching the 2-D version.
Overall, the film was better than I expected. There were a lot of really enjoyable moments and memorable characters. Unfortunately, the plot was pretty weak, so that prevented it from being an overall great film. There was enough beautiful scenery and sporadic humor, mainly from the Red Queen, to keep me entertained throughout the movie. Also, I was pleased that at no point did anyone break into song.
You will probably end up seeing this movie just to find out whether or not you will like it. I would recommend seeing it in 3-D, too.
Don't have enough money to see it in 3-D or 2-D? Go watch “Youth in Revolt” at the dollar theater. I hear it’s pretty good.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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