Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Blog | March 7th, 2010
Anyone who knows me well can vouch that Tim Burton can do no wrong in my eyes. His unique ability to creatively tell a quirky story with the use of imaginative visuals is a talent that has caught my eye even as a small 7 year old when I saw Beetlejuice and was both horrified and amazed by the imaginary world. For that reason, you can imagine I’ve been counting down the days to the release of Alice in Wonderland more than any other movie this year. Alice is right in Burton’s wheelhouse. It’s a quirky, dark, existential tale taking place in an environment begging to be re-drawn by Burton’s twisted hand.
Unfortunately, while making more than $100 million in its opening weekend, Alice has been received with mixed reviews—and for good reason. The story take place 13 years after little Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole. It can be considered a sequel, considerably veering from the original Alice in Wonderland story written by Lewis Carrol. Most of the characters are still there but significant changes in the story can rattle those who were hoping for an adaptation closer to the original.
Of course, there’s also the issue that the movie is released through Disney studios so while the story has its dark moments, it is also juxtaposed with lighter, cheesier “Disney” moments clearly pandering to the children in the audience. It can seem disjointed at times for that reason.
On the positive side, the side I’m more concerned with, the acting and art direction truly lifts this movie up from what might be a huge disappointment for some Burton or Alice fans. We see some fantastic performances from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter who both excel at expressing the comic and dark aspects of their characters. Burton helps them along with some great visual tactics that reinforce their characters’ quirkiness—an enlarged head, wacky colorful hair, eye makeup that changes color depending on the character’s mood and some fantastic, gothic twists on the traditional Alice costumes.
The details are always where Burton succeeds in my mind and there are some great Burton-esque touches that make the film clearly his own. Gnarly tree branches, broken down fences, twisted asymmetrical buildings and scarred faces are some of the few elements that stood out to me as Burton’s style. He makes decrepit, fascinating and deformed, intriguing. Even down to a dog chain whose links were made of hearts, this guy really immerses the audience in a fantastical world that seems so real thanks to these creative details (and I haven’t even mentioned the fact that the film is shown in 3D which only enhances the details). These are the touches i find inspirational and completely worth the time and money even if the story falls apart in some places. Which is why I’m looking forward to seeing what else Burton has up his sleeve.
Visit the official website for Alice in Wonderland