Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Well here we are, the first tent pole 3D film to follow Avatar.¬† Alice in Wonderland blasts into theaters this week and promises to keep your eyes busy with visual rape.¬† The trailers seem to sell you that this is Johnny Depp’s movie in his turn as the Mad Hatter.¬† I can’t say that I was unconvinced since his character is nearly as fleshed out as the titular Alice (Mia Wasikowska) but I have to admit that even with the many reservations I had for Wonderland, I still came away enjoying it.¬† I’m just not certain I actually liked it.

Let’s get down to brass tax here- the main reason anyone will be seeing this movie is because of the 3D or, as was the case for my screening, IMAX 3D.¬† For those of you that don’t know, the movie was not shot in 3D as it was rather converted to 3D in post-production.¬† Given the large amount of CGI that would be added after the fact, this wasn’t really that big of a deal.¬† Anyone that’s seen a computer animated 3D film in the last year will tell you that the 3D works.¬† And while that’s consistent for the most part here, there are a couple of things that stuck out.¬† Mainly that the 3D technique used for the beginning and ending bookends in the “real world” don’t look like anything special.¬† This is significant because I seem to recall a scene in a small room at the beginning of Avatar clearly looked unique due its dimensionality.¬† If this is the same conversion process being used for the upcoming Clash of the Titans, count me out.¬† Along those lines, can we stop throwing shit at the audience with 3D?¬† There are parts of Wonderland, especially when Alice falls down the rabbit hole, where you can hardly tell what’s going on because debris and such are flying in front of your face.¬† I guess kids will like that but it was just a little too much. Overall, I came away questioning why the movie was in 3D to begin with.¬† It actually might be easier to digest everything in a 2D presentation.¬† Good luck finding that though…

The story is old hat these days with virtually every piece of narrative borrowing something from the original 1865 Lewis Carroll novel.¬† But there a few things are added so I’ll go through the plot.¬† Alice is betrothed to a man she does not love.¬† He asks for her hand in marriage and she requests a moment of privacy.¬† She follows a rabbit to a hole and viola!¬† She’s in Wonderland.¬† Or Underland, as it’s referred to throughout the film.¬† From the moment she arrives, and perhaps this is a departure from the original material, she is told she’s not “the right Alice” and is continually thrust into situations that would apparently be a cake walk for her doppleganger.¬† She of course meets the Mad Hatter, who quickly explains how the evil Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham Carter) earned her malicious title.¬† The Mad Hatter is then captured by the Queen’s guards and Alice is forced to look beyond deficiencies and save the day.¬† Anything more would be spoiler territory but you can likely glean where it heads from there.

So with that in mind, the one thing that really works for this movie is the pacing.¬† All 108 minutes flew by and there wasn’t any point where I was forced to check my watch.¬† I think some of that quickness sacrifices logic but when you’re in a dream world, such a thing is not your concern.¬† As soon as Alice drops into Wonderland, everything is at light speed until the end.¬† There are a few moments of downtime for character beats and such.¬† But for the most part, it’s just a lot of fun.¬† The variety of characters and effects certainly help reinforce this.¬† Not a single character has a similar color scheme or costume, save for the Queen’s army of course.¬† Hell, there are even two rabbits that are so completely at opposite ends of a spectrum; no one could mistake them for the same character.¬† I know I referred to it as visual rape in the opening, but if you’re bored during this movie, you’re dead.¬† Or you like Toby Keith.

A word of warning to anyone taking their children to seen this: there is some pretty heavy shit going on here.¬† There is an eye that gets gouged out in addition to a tiny sword being thrown into another eye.¬† There is lots of talk regarding beheading folk and we see the aftermath of several victims in a moat around the Queen’s castle.¬† Not to mention, a lot of these big scary monsters are flying at you.¬† There were several children at the screening I attended and none of them seemed too traumatized.¬† If you have a kiddo that’s a little on the wussy side, wait until How to Train Your Dragon comes out.

So upon reflection here, I liked it.¬† Didn’t love it, just liked it.¬† A couple things I failed to mention are a particularly bizarre dancing sequence by the Mad Hatter and the awful and unnecessary CGI body that Crispin Glover’s character uses.¬† But for a guy like me who kind of enjoyed Burton’s Charlies and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd but was ultimately disappointed with both, I can say that this one is better.¬† Call it a cautious recommendation, but check it out.¬† Just save the 3D money for another time.

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