Friday at the Movies: Alice in Wonderland

First off, let's just reflect for a moment. I'm reviewing a current movie. One that is still in theaters. This is only the second time I've gone to the movies since we've lived in Alaska. (The first time was for the midnight showing of Harry Potter. We don't mess around with Harry Potter.) In case you're new to this blog, we've lived in Alaska since October 2008.

So yes. Alice in Wonderland. We all know that it just came out and was directed by Tim Burton. It stars Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Anne Hathaway. I would like to thank Johnny Depp for being the only person in that group with a name that didn't make my fingers so this weird "how the HECK do you spell that?" dance. I'd also like to thank him for being so good looking. And for being, quite possibly, the best living actor next to Tom Hanks.

I was very excited for this. But then, I was also excited for Burton's remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so what do I know?

Not a whole lot. I was very underwhelmed. Very. I've never read the book(s) but I grew up watching the animated version so I was expecting a real-life, Tim Burton take on that. That's not what I got. I don't know what I got. It could be very close to the book, it could be so far off from the book that it shouldn't even bear the same name. I'm not sure. I felt bad, though. This was Kyle's first trip to anything Wonderland related and it wasn't a great one. (He seemed to like it, though.) Visually, it was stunning. But what Tim Burton movie isn't, you know? I didn't like Mia Wasikowska as Alice, though. She seemed devoid of any and all emotion, even at parts where she should have shown a great deal of it, there was barely anything. Kyle and I discussed it on the way home and he was shocked that I didn't like her. I said, "I think Anne Hathaway should have played Alice and someone else should have been the white queen." He replied, "Nooooooo."

I just think Anne Hathaway is sort of a female Johnny Depp. She's done so many different roles and played them all to perfection. She was fine as the white queen, I just feel like she should have been Alice and maybe Nicole Kidman should have been the queen. (Mostly because when I think of white, ice, and frozen, I think of Nicole Kidman's face.)

What I thought was cool, was how Tim Burton worked Jabberwocky into the movie. I just wish he had worked the Walrus and the Carpenter in...



That was always my favorite part.

We saw it in 3D, which I'm upset about paying $12.50 each for. It was cool in 3D but it wasn't one of those movies where you're like, "Man, this would be awesome in 3D!" I feel like IMAX would also be unnecessary. So if you want to see it, just see it in plain ol' movie format.

So, quick rundown.

1. I like the animated version much better.
2. Anne Hathaway should have been Alice.
3. Save your money and see it in regular movie format.
4. This version needed more songs because it had none.
5. I like this song.
   

Also, fun fact: people often think that Lewis Carroll wrote the books while on LSD. The books were written in the mid-late 1800s and LSD was invented by a chemist in the 1943. So while LSD would have been impossible, there's nothing saying he wasn't on something else, right? And let's face it, you'd have to be on something to come up with half of that stuff.