Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland
Movie Blurb by Shale
March 5, 2010

This movie loosely ties together Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and adds some new material that story purists will likely hate. But this is not your grandparents' Alice, nor for that matter mine.

For that go here:
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showpost.php?p=6216839&postcount=19


However, if you dare for a new imagining of an old story done many times in movies over the last century, this version directed by Tim Burton may have delights for kids of all ages.

It refers to Alice as a little girl with a recurring dream of falling down the rabbit hole into Underland, but picks up on Alice (Mia Wasikowska) at age 19 when she is about to be engaged by arrangement to a young lord whom she can't countenance. She runs off and, you guessed it, sees the white rabbit in a waistcoat with a watch and chases after him, falling down the rabbit hole again.

Alice goes thru all the previously seen scenes in the room of doors, drinking unknown drugs from a bottle and shrinking, then eating pastries that make her grow large (dontcha hate when that happens). Finally she gets it together, gets the key for the little door and is the right small size to get out into Wonderland.



Much of this is the usual stuff of the story with the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and the smiling Cheshire Cat.




She meets the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp who is mostly recognizable with a bit of CGI enhancement to his face) and has a much bigger part in this movie, becoming an ally of Alice in her quests.



She encounters the mean Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, also recognizable despite her quite large head) who is fond of shouting "off with their heads."



The Red Queen (Queen of Hearts) has stolen the power from her sister the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) by controlling the Jabberwocky, a vicious dragon.

Here is the departure from the original story of a lost little girl's wandering thru Wonderland. Turns out that Alice the young woman is destined to be the champion of the White Queen and fight the Jabberwocky.

So that's the story - not the original story but just as valid. I saw it in 3-D but was almost planning to see it on the regular screen at $3 less. I really don't think 3-D is necessary and it would be just as enjoyable without that gimmick. (Altho, there was one thing thrown at us unexpectedly that actually made me duck).

It is rated PG and there are a few dark scenes, like all those heads the Queen of Hearts has been offing that might be rough for some kids. The grotesque stuff that the White Queen puts into a potion to make Alice the right size, like cut off fingers might appeal to gross little boys.

 

now, is this "through the looking glass" itself?

ohh....stupid question

i should have paid more attention to reading it

 

I'm looking forward to seeing it

 

Actually, most of the movie adaptations of the story combine Alice with Looking Glass, including the one of my gen (Your Grandparents' Alice), the 1951 Disney animated movie:



The Jabberwocky and the Tweedles are from Looking Glass, but since most movies combine the sequel book into the one movie with the title Alice in Wonderland, those of us who don't read the original books never knew there was a difference.

 

Hot Shi* - Alice PLUS Johnny Depp - It can't get much better than this!!!

 

Yep looking forward to this too. Tim Burton is the right man to make such a movie.

 

i liked this move, but I think it would have been cool if they stretched this movie into a trilogy. This way we could have seen more nonsense that makes wonderland wonderful.

either way it was a good movie, the charecters actually had some depth which is nice to see in this day and age

 

I went in expecting a trainwreck of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton raping the story until it could exist as nothing more than Hot Topic tshirts; and was actually surprised that this wasn't the case.

Keep in mind - I'm not saying it was good or great, only that it was not nearly as godawful as I thought it'd be. There were too many little nitpicky things to mention wrong with it; but all in all it played out much better than I expected. Even Depp managed to not be a complete fuckwit for a change.

But Tim Burton really, desperately needs to go back to making things that are actually dark and twisted. Not some hipster, edgy, hot-topic "Oh wow look how dark this is!" dark that's completely tame and ultimately boring.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet - do yourself a favor and cut out sometime before the last seven minutes or so. Or don't and let a johnny depp disco dance scene ruin your memory of alice in wonderland forever.

 

Me too. I was actually half-dragged by a friend because I promised her I would see it with her, and I kept having flashbacks to Willy Wonka every time I saw a preview for it, but even though it really was 3D heavy, I didn't mind. Kind of reminded me of Roger Rabbit. After a while, I just forgot.
I was also impressed by the fact that they didn't pull any punches- like kids' movies used to be when I was little and they weren't afraid of damaging our fragile little psyches with challenging themes. I grin every time I hear someone railing against it saying "THIS ISN'T FOR CHILDREN?!>!>!>!?>!?!>!?" Yes it is. Grow up. Your kid can probably handle it better than you can. Stop avoiding things that might require you actually, oh I don't know, TALK to your children about something heavier than not eating the play-dough...
Overall, I thought the whole thing was a lot of fun, possessed breakdance included.
And anyway, anything that can produce this kind of awesomeness is cool in my book:

"FREEDOM!"

 

I enjoyed it visually, but it just didn't feel like Alice in Wonderland. It felt like some other story which has similar characters. Though Alice is completely different from the books. And I found it rather disappointing that she discovers it is all real. I feel like a huge part of the story is the power of imagination, and if it was just a girl living through crazy things, her mind and creativity is unimportant.

 

can't wait to see this, hoping my family are going to treat me for mothers day, they usually come up with something unexpected.

 

Really? Huh, everyone I've talked to (myself included) felt this was a huge ripoff in the books. I never thought of it that way, though.

 

Being a ridonkulously HUGE fan of alice in wonderland my parents already purchased the poster before i've actually had a chance to see the movie lol. I don't think it will be as deep and excellent as the original but I think it will be visually stimulating and a different spin on an old classic. The one thing im dissapointed with already is the fact that the cheshire cat is grey and blue as opposed to pink and purple (the colours he was in the original).

 

Saw this one in Imax 3-D in Ft Lauderdale on opening day and was seriously disappointed... The visuals are nice... and some of my favorite actors/actresses are in it but the story is so shallow. Seems like Tim Burton is much better at designing characters and set pieces than actually telling a story.

 

Has anyone seen this new Tim Burton version??? I just saw it today and I must say I was so incredibley dissapointed with it. I guess I was expecting more. I remember watching the TV series as a kid, that was my favorite show of all time.

 

I thought it was going to be WAAAAYYYYY better than it was. The visuals were cool but the story itself pretty much sucked. I enjoyed the books much MUCH better...even the cartoon Disney version was better. :[

 

There was a show? How did I miss that? I wonder if I could find some clips of it online to watch. Was it pretty good?

 

Yeah it was the best show ever I forget what channel it was on. I will try to find some clips and post it.

 

! ok ok it was the Disney Channel in the early 90's here is an episode!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/profile?user=melpierson#p/u/35/NSsV9Pwe1wU

 

better episode
https://www.youtube.com/profile?user=melpierson#p/u/37/j_T8gMe5I9Q