This weekend, my girlfriend and I went to see Tim Burton's reimagining of the classic fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". I had no ambition to see this movie but after some gentle nudging, I decided to give the movie a chance. What followed was quite posibibly the most excruciating movie experiences I have had this year.
"Alice in Wonderland" is a very problematic film, to say the least. The main problem I had lied in the visual style. I felt that most of the visuals were quite generic. I blame this partly on Tim Burton. With the exception of "Big Fish" and "Corpse Bride", all of Burton's prior films have been reimaginings of classic properties, all of which exhibit the same visual/quirky stylings. "Alice in Wonderland" is no exception. The film is very much a Burton film. This may be a blessing for die-hard Burton fans but for a good majority of the movie going public, this is could present a problem. I feel there are a large number moments in "Alice" where the visual style is a bit too much and as the movie progressed I got bored. Frankly, I was sick of being in Burton's "world". This is a fundamental problem for a film that is entirely predicated and centered the audience buying into the world it has created.
Another problem I had with "Alice in Wonderland" was the overall story. I admit that I was unfamiliar with the "Alice" story prior to seeing this film. I only had a basic understanding of the overall plot. With that said, I feel that my ignorance should not have detracted from my overall enjoyment of the film. The plot did not feel cohesive. Frankly, it was a mess. I felt most of the scenes were a bit random and out of place. For instance, there is a scene where The Mad Hatter does a dance. It is very apparent they added this scene in the film strickly of laughs and it really breaks the pacing. There is also a sort of a plot twist in the middle of the film that made me cringe. The new remade story just didn't do it for me, which suprisies me because "Alice in Wonderland" has such a rich backstory. The missteps in the plot leads me to believe that this film was lazily handled.
Honestly, "Alice in Wonderland" is not the worst movie you could at a theater but it certainly not worth the admission. The film is riddled with a visual stylings that have been become generic over the past ten years and lazily handeled story elements. If you are dying to see a film about a young girl transported into a fantasy world I would highly reccomend Guilermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth". I guarantee you will enjoy it more than "Alice in Wonderland" even if it isn't your first time seeing it.
- "Have I gone mad?"
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