Monday, March 22, 2010

Movie Review | Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is probably one of my best novels of all times... I always felt enchanted by the characters... by the grinning cat... the mad hatter and by the hooka smoking caterpillar...
I was inspired by Alice... to be like her falling down a rabbit hole... to make others feel like she did as she stepped into the Looking Glass...

I was Alice's invisible companion in all her adventures...

So... When Tim Burton said he'll make a movie about Alice... I couldn't wait... till it was released...

But.. unfortunately... The unpredictable Burton... was very expected... And produced what I think was a hiccup in his career....

== Spoilers Warning!==

The Plot... was naive... with some characters removed... some characters gaining more importance than others like the Mad Hatter [played by Johnny Depp].
Burton made it like a sequel to the most beloved books by Lewis Carroll... but it ended up being a cliche plot where the young unorthodox girl is being forced to marry Mr. Mom-Thinks-You-Are-Perfect... just like her sister who pretends to be happy... and then the girl... against all odds... refuses the guy and decide to start a career...
Seriously!!!

== End of Spoilers ==


But if the movie is more concerned with the adventures rather than the ending... then other flaws begin to appear...

The setting and the looks of the characters are all too dark for a wonderland and wonderland inhabitants... even Alice has black halos around her eyes... almost looking sick and displeased... in fact you don't get the feeling that Alice is enjoying her being in Wonderland... which at some point in the movie is actually being called "Underland"!!!!!


The Mad Hatter looks funny but again... excessive makeup that for me didn't do the trick...


The Red Queen as she is being called instead of [Queen of Hearts]... is the only thing that I have no comment about... I loved her character... her temper... her makeup... Helena Bonham-Carter did a great job!


The White Queen on the other hand... I couldn't understand... she is white... and moves swiftly like the wind.... but then she wears very dark lipstick and finger nails... giving her more a ghostly presence... which I couldn't relate to...


The Wonderland as well... is a bit dark reminding me of Fleet Street from Burton's Sweeny Todd...


There is a sense of agony and trouble all during the movie which for me contradicts with the fluttering of my soul when I ever think of Alice's Wonderland...

In the novels by Lewis Carroll... you find passages and conversations which leaves you puzzled... and makes you read more about your own life and being... These stimulating simple conversations are missing from the movie...

Burton has put a lot of effort in the visual making of the movie than the conceptual one... and I think this is where he failed...

Would I recommend any to watch this movie...? Yes I would...
This wasn't a movie done hastily... and even if it failed to meet with my expectations... I'm sure there are things in the movie which you can't miss out on...

2 comments:

Aicha said...

Well ms rusaila ... i beg to differ
for after watching the movie yesterday i was shocked of how much you belitteled it , and how much it reached my full expectations !!!
NOW i know that i didnt read the book , so i want to remind you that this is an adaptaion to the book , it's a mere inspiration of the books charecters and an attempt to perhaps imagine what might happen to alice after the book was OVER !!!
i wont discuss you on the spoiler warning for i repeat i didnt read the book , however your " end of spoilers " is too harsh to be beleived and i think its only coming from the fact that you decided that tim burton imagined alice and the wonderland or underland in a way different to you . now i didnt think of the setting as being dark rather than a mysterious place that is filled with strange and colord plants and etc ....
alice to me was sort of Over whelmed with the place , and then having to face a battle with a very frightening creature , i think she showed courage and she looked like she was having fun with the madhatter and the creepy queen and stuff , as for the black halos around her eyes are because she is really white , not PALE !
Now the mad hatter how ever you may see him is a charecter bound to make you in love with it after the early moments of our encounter , he resembeled his most obvious charecteristic of being mad quite remarkably .
the queen i agree with you is well done , now for the white queen whom you are Criticizing harshly show the brilliance of tim burton , bcuz i think that the most expected thing you are naturally bound to find in a white queen is every thing white from top to bottom , but i find that tim in his wild imagination thought to put an eliment in her which will distinguish her from the typical white to a special white without taking anything of her chatecter !!! i bet you never thought of it this way .
and last as for wonderland being like fleet street ... well not one bit . fleet street was a 100% exact adaptation of london , this look at all the plants in the background . i can see sky and white clouds , where in fleet street was exactly that !!!
i dont mean to say its the best movie but i honestly think you cant go aroung saying its that bad just because you wanted burton to make a specific movie icluding the same details you noticed while reading your precious book , SO I SAY TIM BURTON ONCE AGAIN GAVE US A TOUCH OF HIS BRILLIANCE BY DOING THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT OUR AUDIENCE MINDS WANTED HIM TO DO , HE ONCE AGAIN WAS BRILLIANT AS A DIRECTOR .
thank you

Aicha said...

"this is not an adaptaion to the book " i meant to say