Burton’s depiction of ‘Alice’ twisted but simply dazzling
Lisa Kane
“Alice in Wonderland” is director Tim Burton’s new 3-D masterpiece, a 13 year flash forward from Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
The film flies forward to a new 20-year old Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska, who is still struggling with the same dreamer mentality she had as a little girl, and pursues a new chase with the White Rabbit (voiced by Martin Sheen.)
As Alice escapes a coming-of-age dilemma, she funnels into a new adventure in “Underland,” previously known as “Wonderland.”
During this she becomes reunited with old acquaintances, such as the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the March Hare, Tweedledee & Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), the Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry), and the hookah-smoking Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman).
But this Underland is no “Wonderland.” It’s now a bleak world patrolled by the Red Queen (a composite of the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts, and played by Helena Bonham Carter).
Fatefully thrown into a new adventure, Alice has been drawn back to Underland to save her childhood imaginative friends from the rule of the Red Queen, and in turn escapes her own qualms with a marriage proposal she dares not accept.
A mystical adventure, Burton’s depiction of Alice’s “Wonderland” isn’t quite as dark as expected with his usual style. 3D images bring a bit more of the movie to life, but the colorful Disney-like aspects take away from Burton’s standard directing style of gloom.
A brilliant, vibrant theme falls slightly short with Wasikowska as Alice. She seems to be undesirably apathetic to her dreamland, while the other characters are Burton’s hilariously portrayed versions of the originals.
Bonham Carter is a marvelously wicked version of the “Red Queen,” sure to produce fits of giggles, along with fitting choice of Depp as the “Mad Hatter,” who illustrates the madness with his own triumphant touch.
Though it may fall short of its dark-world expectations, “Alice in Wonderland” is more than worthy of seeing. The fantasy world of Alice is dazzling.
