I went to the midn
ight showing of Alice in Wonderland last night. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has always been one of my favorite books, and by far my favorite classic Disney movie. So naturally I was very excited for this new more adultish version. And who better to give this beloved classic a new dark twist than Tim Burton? Perhaps Guillermo Del Torro, but he has bigger fish to fry currently, (I do not like you Peter Jackson). Moving on. I loved this new version. When I first learned about it over the summer I became very excited, but then everything I saw related to it focused on Johnny Depp's character the Mad Hatter. This greatly upset me because, although a very important character, the story does not revolve around him. He is in two scenes as I recall. But then with further investigation I found out that this movie is more of a sequel to the book, Alice's return to Wonderland (or Underland as it is referred to in this movie) and its subsequent liberation from the red queen's reign of terror. Back to why I loved the movie. It is full of sly winks to the original disney film and more so the literary masterpiece that Lewis Carroll crafted a century ago. It turns the infamous (I say infamous because it is a riddle that Lewis Carroll wrote, a riddle who's pun was that there was no answer but he received so many inquiries about it he had to write a few possible answers) line "Why is a Raven like a writing desk?" into almost a tragic representation of the various character's (and especially the Hatter's) inability to find logic reason or control in their lives. It is not until Alice finally asks for the answer at the end of the film and the Hatter's response of having no idea, with a smile on his face, that you can see that despite the lack of control that we have of our lives, they can still be good. One thing that was a little bit disappointing about it was the publisher was Disney. Throughout the movie you can feel Burton straining against the child targeted company in his attempt to have artistic freedom, but ultimately the corporation wins that battle. That is not to say however that this movie is good for the little kiddies. I would not take my nephew to go see this. There is definitely an age restriction for this one. For example, a shrunken Alice must gain access to the Queen of Heart's castle, but the only way to do so is to cross a blood filled moat using the Queen's victims' heads as stepping stones. Or when Alice uses a creature's eye (previously stabbed out by the Door mouse) as a bartering tool to get it to cooperate. Let me just say again, I very much liked this movie. It was extremely engrossing to see what happened to the characters after Alice left. She returns and everyone has become a soldier, she herself sports very battle appropriate armor at the end of the film as she battles the Jabberwocky. The Mad Hatter becomes a prisoner of war and it is truly fascinating to watch him battle with his own insanity as on one hand he acts silly and foolish, and then to immediately shout "Down with the bloody Red Queen!" And march heroically to the chopping block to meet a martyr's death. Go see it. You may think I spoiled stuff. I didn't. It rocked. 3D didn't really add too much to the movie, it will be visually stunning regardless of which version you see. I cannot wait for it to hit the dollar theater so I can go see it a few more times.
ight showing of Alice in Wonderland last night. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has always been one of my favorite books, and by far my favorite classic Disney movie. So naturally I was very excited for this new more adultish version. And who better to give this beloved classic a new dark twist than Tim Burton? Perhaps Guillermo Del Torro, but he has bigger fish to fry currently, (I do not like you Peter Jackson). Moving on. I loved this new version. When I first learned about it over the summer I became very excited, but then everything I saw related to it focused on Johnny Depp's character the Mad Hatter. This greatly upset me because, although a very important character, the story does not revolve around him. He is in two scenes as I recall. But then with further investigation I found out that this movie is more of a sequel to the book, Alice's return to Wonderland (or Underland as it is referred to in this movie) and its subsequent liberation from the red queen's reign of terror. Back to why I loved the movie. It is full of sly winks to the original disney film and more so the literary masterpiece that Lewis Carroll crafted a century ago. It turns the infamous (I say infamous because it is a riddle that Lewis Carroll wrote, a riddle who's pun was that there was no answer but he received so many inquiries about it he had to write a few possible answers) line "Why is a Raven like a writing desk?" into almost a tragic representation of the various character's (and especially the Hatter's) inability to find logic reason or control in their lives. It is not until Alice finally asks for the answer at the end of the film and the Hatter's response of having no idea, with a smile on his face, that you can see that despite the lack of control that we have of our lives, they can still be good. One thing that was a little bit disappointing about it was the publisher was Disney. Throughout the movie you can feel Burton straining against the child targeted company in his attempt to have artistic freedom, but ultimately the corporation wins that battle. That is not to say however that this movie is good for the little kiddies. I would not take my nephew to go see this. There is definitely an age restriction for this one. For example, a shrunken Alice must gain access to the Queen of Heart's castle, but the only way to do so is to cross a blood filled moat using the Queen's victims' heads as stepping stones. Or when Alice uses a creature's eye (previously stabbed out by the Door mouse) as a bartering tool to get it to cooperate. Let me just say again, I very much liked this movie. It was extremely engrossing to see what happened to the characters after Alice left. She returns and everyone has become a soldier, she herself sports very battle appropriate armor at the end of the film as she battles the Jabberwocky. The Mad Hatter becomes a prisoner of war and it is truly fascinating to watch him battle with his own insanity as on one hand he acts silly and foolish, and then to immediately shout "Down with the bloody Red Queen!" And march heroically to the chopping block to meet a martyr's death. Go see it. You may think I spoiled stuff. I didn't. It rocked. 3D didn't really add too much to the movie, it will be visually stunning regardless of which version you see. I cannot wait for it to hit the dollar theater so I can go see it a few more times.
No comments:
Post a Comment