Alice in Wonderland (3D) directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and new comer, Mia Wasikowska.
The Story:
Alice is now 19 years old and on the day of her engagement, stumbles down the rabbit hole and returns to Underland (misheard by Alice and believed to be called Wonderland), a place she had previously visited as a child. She is told by Underland's inhabitants (a collection of weird characters including the White Queen, the Cheshire Cat and of course, the Mad Hatter) that she is the only one who can destroy the Jabberwocky and subsequently end the Red Queen's reign of terror on Underland.
The Story:
Alice is now 19 years old and on the day of her engagement, stumbles down the rabbit hole and returns to Underland (misheard by Alice and believed to be called Wonderland), a place she had previously visited as a child. She is told by Underland's inhabitants (a collection of weird characters including the White Queen, the Cheshire Cat and of course, the Mad Hatter) that she is the only one who can destroy the Jabberwocky and subsequently end the Red Queen's reign of terror on Underland.
It was determined long before the teaser trailer was released that we would be seeing Alice in Wonderland. It was a no-brainer. With Tim Burton at the helm and Johnny Depp in front of the camera, it was sure to be a fantastic. The strengths of this film were obvious from the start: it's Disney, it's Tim Burton (which in turn results in an always stellar cast), it's 3D and it's an incredible, well-known story. However, there were concerns on whether Burton could create a new story from an already classic one. As we all know, it's hard to change something that people already adore. Burton not only managed to create a new story that worked, he was also able to do so in a way that stayed true to a lot of the elements that made the original story so memorable.
As mentioned before, we are quite hesitant to watch 3D movies unless we can justify that it is actually worth it for the "powers that be" to make the film 3D. For example: a good 3D movie does not just make things seem like they are flying at you because they can, ie Clash of the Titans. A good 3D movie makes you feel like you are on a thrill ride (if that is the angle they are going for) OR it enhances the movie goer's experience with the film by strengthening the image quality and making the film seem more life like. Alice in Wonderland falls in the category of the latter, and did so magnificently.
The scenes were breathtaking - not in an Avatar-Pandora type of way, where the film makers (computers may be a better choice of word here since it is clear that Avatar was basically created on a computer screen and transfered to the movie screen, but I digress...) spent hours depicting the "wonder" and "splendor" that is Pandora. The scenes in Alice were used to enhance the storyline and to make you feel as if you too, had fallen down the rabbit hole.
The movie had it's typical "Burton-esque" feel to it: it was dark, gloomy and of course, eerie. The characters, though hard to change because of their notorioty in our culture, had an odd twist to their personalities. Whether it was Anne Hathaway's "cute but psycho" (as she called it) White Queen or Johnny Depp's extreme multiple personalities as the Mad Hatter. The characters were delightfully odd and intriguing and for the most part, quite comical.
Overall, I would highly recommend watching this film - in 3D would be best, but 2D would suffice.
IMDB here
Rotten Tomatoes here
Official Movie Site here
As mentioned before, we are quite hesitant to watch 3D movies unless we can justify that it is actually worth it for the "powers that be" to make the film 3D. For example: a good 3D movie does not just make things seem like they are flying at you because they can, ie Clash of the Titans. A good 3D movie makes you feel like you are on a thrill ride (if that is the angle they are going for) OR it enhances the movie goer's experience with the film by strengthening the image quality and making the film seem more life like. Alice in Wonderland falls in the category of the latter, and did so magnificently.
The scenes were breathtaking - not in an Avatar-Pandora type of way, where the film makers (computers may be a better choice of word here since it is clear that Avatar was basically created on a computer screen and transfered to the movie screen, but I digress...) spent hours depicting the "wonder" and "splendor" that is Pandora. The scenes in Alice were used to enhance the storyline and to make you feel as if you too, had fallen down the rabbit hole.
The movie had it's typical "Burton-esque" feel to it: it was dark, gloomy and of course, eerie. The characters, though hard to change because of their notorioty in our culture, had an odd twist to their personalities. Whether it was Anne Hathaway's "cute but psycho" (as she called it) White Queen or Johnny Depp's extreme multiple personalities as the Mad Hatter. The characters were delightfully odd and intriguing and for the most part, quite comical.
Overall, I would highly recommend watching this film - in 3D would be best, but 2D would suffice.
IMDB here
Rotten Tomatoes here
Official Movie Site here
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