The Freak's Rating: B+ : Having been a fan of the original Alice In Wonderland as a child and also a Tim Burton supporter, my interest was at a high entering the film. Burton does not fail to disappoint his fans.
Tim Burton will be hailed for his creativity long after he dies. Sadly some won't ever truly appreciate his contributions to cinema until that point. It is only at the obligatory Academy Awards montage where he'll get his due post mortem. True, there have been blunders along the way. Sweeney Todd wasn't the most memorable and I think everyone wants to forget Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, but for every Sweeney Todd, there is a Nightmare Before Christmas. For every Batman Returns, a Beetlejuice. I think you get my point.
Mia Wasikowska has been on my radar since her performance on the HBO drama, In Treatment. She is a fantastic actress and I was thrilled to learn she had been cast as Alice. She does a wonderful job. Casting is worth discussing here though, as it is one of the film's biggest successes, yet also its most enormous flaw. Johnny Depp will always have a role in Tim Burton's films as will Helena Bonham Carter. Both are perfect here, with the most praise due Carter. She is hysterically evil in all her scenes and easily steals the show. Now, for the enormous flaw...miss Anne Hathaway. I am guessing this was what is referred to as "generational casting". Generational casting is handing the part to someone who will pull a certain target audience (or "generation") into the theater. Hathaway has the Princess Diaries crowd (now in their late 20s) wrapped around her finger. This was by far the worst choice made by the crew of this one as Hathaway's character is cartoonish and not likeable in the least bit. As the White Queen, this part would have been played perfectly by the likes of Winona Ryder (one of Burton's favorites) and I couldn't help but feel as if it may have been written for someone else the entire time. Hathaway falls as flat as can be in every scene and really grinds the film to a hault. Without her in the part, this is a certain A rating.
Alice In Wonderland is NOT for children, I repeat...NOT for children. There is a reason it isn't in the Family category page on this site. There are times when the PG rating given to the film is even a tad mild. This is a fairytale that should have a PG-13 rating attached without question. If you dip below that age, you'll likely have some explaining to do and possibly even be up a tad late for nightmares. Just my two cents there.
All in all, this is a beautiful film. Burton does a phenomenal job of putting together the storytale aspect on screen. The set design, cinematography and special effects are perfectly done. Academy Award nominations are sure to come for the film's art direction as well and deservedly so. If you loved the story as a child or better yet read the book, this is a necessary viewing. Just try to ignore Hathaway's scenes.
Angie's Rating: B : As a kid, I was a really big fan of Disney's Alice in Wonderland.... what was I thinking? Even with it's flaws I prefer this interpretation better! The few annoyances were: Anne Hathaway (blech!), weird inconsistency with violence, the child actor playing young alice, and a minor flaw with Johnny Depp. Depp was good in the role but I had a problem with the times that I swore he was Jack Swallow and I was watching Pirates again. Anne Hathaway is so completely awful that she would have ruined the whole thing. I was even starting to feel embarrassed for her, but thankfully her role is small... as is the little girl's (playing the much younger Alice) screen time. I thought the casting errors odd, especially since Burton's other films seem to be so geniusly cast... hmmmm
With those things aside, the film is really fun! The Red Queen is by far the best character and Burton's interpretation and imagionation gives this story a step up.... and I might add follows the story much more closely than the Disney version. I would say this is a strong recommendation if you're a Tim Burton fan. (I wouldn't recommend for children)
