Tim Burton has maintained his crown as king of weird children’s movies with his latest creation of “Alice in Wonderland.” Burton teams up, yet again, with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, a deranged haberdasher who can’t make up his mind to speak in an English or Scottish accent, to make a version of Wonderland that only Burton could come up with.
A 19-year-old Alice falls down a rabbit hole, returning to the mystical underworld she first experienced as a child. She quickly learns she has a destiny to fulfill in Wonderland to slay the Jabberwocky, basically a dragon, and dethrone the evil Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter.
Alice is reluctant to take on this path as it is very dangerous and she needs to get back to the world above. But she is convinced by the Mad Hatter to tread on after seeing the devastation to the land at the hands of the Red Queen and her army of heart-suite card men.
With the aid of the White Rabbit, the Dormouse, Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Alice embarked on her journey, resulting in an entertaining battle between the armies of the White and Red Queens along with Alice and Company.
I’ve never been much of a Tim Burton fan in the past, and “Alice in Wonderland” did little to change that. Overall it was a fun movie, with very interesting effects and the ending battle was pretty exciting. However, I still can’t shake the feeling the Mad Hatter got much more of a central role simply because it was Johnny Depp, Burton’s heterosexual life partner.
While “Alice in Wonderland” is offered as a 3-D film, I can’t see how it would really add much to the experience. My suggestion for “Alice” is two-fold; if you tend to enjoy Burton’s flicks, as many do, “Alice” is right up your alley. If you feel that Burton forces the creative and over uses Depp, skip the Jabberwocky and talking caterpillar.
Letter Grade: CRated: PG for fantasy action/violence, scary images/situations and a smoking caterpillar.Runtime: 109 min.Starring: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham CarterDirected by: Tim Burton
