Alice in Wonderland - Movie Review

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Runtime: 108 min

As you enter the cinema hall forget all you know about Lewis Carroll's original story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", and prepare to embark in a journey where everything will be dominated by "muchness". Although along the years "Alice in Wonderland" has known more installments, Tim Burton succeeds to revive the fantastic side of the story and to offer the audience a truly wonderful experience.

The plot of the movie continues Alice's adventures in the rabbit hole, only that now Alice is a young woman who is preparing to get engaged. Not knowing what to answer the inquisitive crowd, Alice elopes in the woods succeeding to fall once again in the rabbit hole. After drinking from the shrinking potion and taking a bite from the growing pastry, Alice acquires the right size to pass in the "Underland". From that point on a truly ravishing world, filled with unexpected characters and colorful scenery will reveal. In the end Alice will have to answer another question: will she be able to defeat the fierce Jabberwocky on the Frabjous day and give White Queen back her crown?

I have to admit that all characters are spectacular and very well depicted by director Tim Burton, but I've waited the most to encounter the Mad Hater and the Red Queen, played exquisitely by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Charter. In the movie also appears Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat and Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit.

Even though, for many years Lewis Carroll's novel was considered to be a book for children, Tim Burton's interpretation is not at all suitable for kids and it definitely isn't a bed time story. If I were to characterize the movie in one word I would say, once again, "muchness": the courage to do not what's right, but what you want. And while Alice discovers this for herself, the entire audience embarks in an inner journey to self-discovery.

The 3D effects give life to the entire story and to the unusual characters, being an important part in the structure of the movie.

So, it's a must to see this unique interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland", not so much for the plot itself, but for the ingenious way in which Tim Burton has imagined and depicted "Underland" and its famous inhabitants: Red Queen, White Queen, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Blue Caterpillar, and of course the Cheshire Cat.

Previous weeks:

Comments

Your Comment: