What: Alice in WonderlandAuthor: Lewis Carroll.
When: March 6.
How Long: 1 hour, 48 minutes. Kinda shortish.
Where: Manchester, yo.
What I ate While I watched: Mountain Dew Livewire (yum yum yum), Mike & Ikes, and Buncha Crunch, each of which were snuck into the theater to circumvent their exorbitant pricing.
Director: Tim Burton. For the win. I'm fairly certain Lewis Carroll had Mr. Burton in mind for the film adaptation of this work when he wrote it.
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway (her character was weird).
Two Sentence Synopsis: Alice Kingsley falls into what she thinks is a dream in Underworld (Wonderland), where the inhabitants reluctantly welcome her back. She must face her fears to defeat the tyrannical Red Queen by slaying the Jabberwocky with the Vorpal Sword on Frabjous Day.
As an English major and concerned citizen, I considered it my duty to go see this movie. Because the Burton-Depp-Carter combo has been known to produce good films (although not always), and because it is a classic story with a lot of potential, my expectations were fairly high.
The visual and "entertainment" aspect were definitely way up there, as is to be expected when you join the imaginative forces of Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll. I particularly enjoyed the mumbling cry of the resistance "Down with the bloody Red Queen," which, when spoken, sounded more like "Downbamdebumbydeddeen." But everyone who was insurgent to "The Bloody Red Queen" said it like that.
In fact, the environment Burton created is definitely the film's strongest point. The characters are lively and entertaining, and--as they should be in "Wonderland"--fantastic and wonderful. Anyone who's seen the old animated version will recognize the characters and enjoy the new depictions of them. And even though she was the antagonist, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen was pretty astounding, with her all to eager decapitations and playing-card knights.
On the other hand, though, for a film so heavily reliant on CGI, that was somewhat lacking. It wasn't horrible, just not as touched up as I would have hoped. Granted, we all could be a little spoiled after films like Star Trek and Avatar deliver visually stunning work.
Also, the story seemed a little weak. Again, not enough to make me hate it, but just enough to make me uncomfortable with it. And I can't really point to one thing and say "That's it, that's the problem!" but I can only say that something could have been better.
As far as a point of application goes, it amounted to a tip of the hat to the imagination and its powers, almost saying that the imagination is as real as real life. But the movie came back to say that you can't stay in an imaginative state. Creative, yes--but you cannot live your life in a fantasy realm. Which I agree. And even when Alice came back out, she kept her own sense of herself, which is a good thing.
The conclusion--go see it once in theaters. It's worth the price of admission, once.
Two Sentence Synopsis: Alice Kingsley falls into what she thinks is a dream in Underworld (Wonderland), where the inhabitants reluctantly welcome her back. She must face her fears to defeat the tyrannical Red Queen by slaying the Jabberwocky with the Vorpal Sword on Frabjous Day.
As an English major and concerned citizen, I considered it my duty to go see this movie. Because the Burton-Depp-Carter combo has been known to produce good films (although not always), and because it is a classic story with a lot of potential, my expectations were fairly high.
The visual and "entertainment" aspect were definitely way up there, as is to be expected when you join the imaginative forces of Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll. I particularly enjoyed the mumbling cry of the resistance "Down with the bloody Red Queen," which, when spoken, sounded more like "Downbamdebumbydeddeen." But everyone who was insurgent to "The Bloody Red Queen" said it like that.
In fact, the environment Burton created is definitely the film's strongest point. The characters are lively and entertaining, and--as they should be in "Wonderland"--fantastic and wonderful. Anyone who's seen the old animated version will recognize the characters and enjoy the new depictions of them. And even though she was the antagonist, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen was pretty astounding, with her all to eager decapitations and playing-card knights.
On the other hand, though, for a film so heavily reliant on CGI, that was somewhat lacking. It wasn't horrible, just not as touched up as I would have hoped. Granted, we all could be a little spoiled after films like Star Trek and Avatar deliver visually stunning work.
Also, the story seemed a little weak. Again, not enough to make me hate it, but just enough to make me uncomfortable with it. And I can't really point to one thing and say "That's it, that's the problem!" but I can only say that something could have been better.
As far as a point of application goes, it amounted to a tip of the hat to the imagination and its powers, almost saying that the imagination is as real as real life. But the movie came back to say that you can't stay in an imaginative state. Creative, yes--but you cannot live your life in a fantasy realm. Which I agree. And even when Alice came back out, she kept her own sense of herself, which is a good thing.
The conclusion--go see it once in theaters. It's worth the price of admission, once.
