'Alice in Wonderland' beats the opening of 'Avatar'

My excuse for posting my observations on the movie, which I saw tonight. I went to the Cantera 30 Saturday night for the 7:45 showing, but it was sold out before 7:30, and I decided to try Sunday. Showed up at 5:45 for the 6:15 showing, and no problem. In fact, attendance was light, but far from sparse. When we got to the "put on your specs" part, there were a number of previews for 3D movies out to Dec 2010 ( namely TRON legacy ) and these were fun to watch. There first of these was the one I remember from Avatar, so the additions seem to indicate that there is a big 3D push.

There was a big production for the 3D Disney Logo, and I was thinking how you could nibble at this candy for a while before it got tiresome. Well the movie ensued, and as far as its 3D production goes, I would be hard put to give a technical comparison to Avatar, which as we know, was "shot in 3D", whereas Alice was processed in post production. I didn't notice that it was flat, like a viewmaster scene, but there were scenes, especially early on in the beginning real-world segment, where I didn't notice much in the way of 3D. It was there, but it was not striking.

I thought these were pretty well done, though, and did a good job of adapting the Alice premise to the "older Alice" setting. The segue into the "down the rabbit hole" action flowed smoothly, and it felt very much like Alice in Wonderland. Her descent down the rabbit hole and the immediately following "Drink Me", "Eat Me" scenes seemed to be homages to the 1951 Disney movie. Even as she finally emerged into Wonderland, or "Underland" as we were given notice, the Disney motif held strong, and this sort of surprised me, and kept me happy for the time being.

In fact, I continued to be pleased with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, The Chesire Cat, and the Caterpillar, as the revisionist plot began to insinuate itself. This largely took hold at the Tea Party, which had a different character, but still seemed familiar. Now is the time to mention the basic problem. The imposition of a wonder/under land plot line really clashed with the dreamy, whimsical motif. At times, there seemed that an accommodation was reached, as the plot itself adopted a sort of aimlessness. But still, it had to get where it was going, and ultimately, Alice as epic heroine just didn't work.

What did work was Helen Bonham Carter as the Red Queen with her court. The whole mood here put me very much in mind of the Gormenghast Trilogy. Crispin Glover did OK, but seemed kind of tacked on.

Depp was good as the Mad Hatter, but here again, he was given a lot of defintion and direction as a platonic love interest and ally of Alice in the New Plot, and after a while he lost touch with the Mad Hatter concept.

Well, lots of effort and many interesting touches, so lifelong Alice fans such as myself will have to see it. But to be honest, it never really gelled. The worst of it was the cliche ridden battle with the Jabberwock, and the real-life epilogue with its downright embarrassing depiction of the liberated Alice.

Given Depp’s hateful anti-American ramblings, I refuse to contribute to his financial success. I don’t care how good the movie is, I won’t see it.

The best Alice ever was in the 1981 Film - Alice.

Sophie Barjac

I saw Alice in Wonderland last night. It was good but—I noticed that the plot was really from the Wizard of Oz. Johnny Depp played the scarecrow well. I believe this is the best Tim Burton movie he has made in a while—best since Beatlejuice. As for Depps political ramblings—he’s an actor, what does he know? I do not give a fig about his views, just his acting. I hope he will wake up to see the light at some point. What can you expect from someone who lives in Paris?

James Cameron is having a tough week, huh?

it was a warmed over narnia lite written by a golden compass fan who like anne hathaway the wrong way.

The white queen could have been totally omitted without a loss to the plot.

seriously anne hatahaway looking for a female champion to weild the sword for her?

weird.

3d was as you imply a waste.

Depp was totally misused.

it was kind of a pc feminist version of a classic that should never have been greenlighted.