MY GIRL LOVES DEPP, I LOVE CARTER, AND MY CUZ JUST LOVES THE MOVIE

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

I have to say that I am indeed a fan of Lewis Carroll the person who wrote the stories on which this film was based [yes I said stories as in multiple, it’s true look it up], and am a huge fan of the animated film that we all know and love, CLASSIC. Add in that I am a Tim Burton fan, a Johnny Depp fan [my girl loves him], and a huge Helena Bonham Carter fan [I love her]. So naturally we all got together to see this film opening night and had a great time. Also naturally when released on this three disc combo pack I had to have it, the day and minute it was released it was mine. Did I love the film that much, is it a classic, is it five stars, are all questions I am sure you want to ask me after reading that. Well before any are answered here in the review let me say this, I believe in supporting people you claim to be a fan of. So regardless I would have bought this any way luckily I liked this film so it was all good.

This is not the classic animated version you all remember from back in the day, no, this is Tim Burton’s take on this. In this version of the film Alice is older and on the verge of getting married, or so her hopeful husband to be thinks. Of course she is not in love and doesn’t want to do it plus she thinks she is seeing a rabbit every where she goes. It is at a party in which the future husband [he hopes, or is it expects] will be asking for her hand that she follows the rabbit. Of course you all know she falls into the hole at the bottom of the tree only to end up in Underworld, oops I mean Wonderland [which is it, I guess you will have to watch]. Now that we are here there are a few familiar faces, or maybe not so much if you are Alice. It turns out she doesn’t remember any of them or she may not be the real Alice at all.

All of your favorites are here of course from Tweedledee and Tweedledum, White Rabbit, Blue Caterpillar, and of course the Cheshire Cat along with so much more. But yes as I am sure you all know the Mad Hatter is here and plays a big role in the film. You see the Red Queen and her huge head are planning on killing Alice so she can’t kill the Jabberwocky. But if she isn’t Alice how can she defeat this monster and why should she even try, this is not her battle after all. So off we go on a crazy adventure that I can honestly say I enjoyed as did my little cuz, she loved it.

This is with out a doubt a Tim Burton film as it has his style all over it but I wonder what type of film this would have been if it would not have been geared towards kids. Still I found it to be a very entertaining film that was just straight fun. If I would have went in expecting more I may have been disappointed but if little 5 year old cuz and my girl enjoyed it then so would I, and I did. It must have been kinda hard for writer Linda Woolverton to not only write this but write a visual film for 3-D. the visuals are amazing and look flawless and bring magic to the screen, the colors and creatures of this world are wonderful. DP Dariusz Wolski did a great job with this film as it looks excellent.

Now if the story changes are too much for you in the script or you feel Burton’s take was not what you expected there is one thing you can count on, the performances. We will start with our lead, Mia Wasikowska, the way she portrays Alice is wonderful. In fact it is possible she may be the best Alice yet from all of the live action films and TV shows. Johnny Depp of course is excellent as The Mad Hatter and brings a new version of the famous charter to life, switching between a sweet yet mad version and a more menacing version when talking about the Red queen and such. Depp has always been able to bring any character to life and does a great job here, especially after watching the special features I love this Hatter. Just an example is how Depp had them put one eye slightly off from the other, the reason for doing so, you will have to buy and see for your self.

Now before I get to any one else I have to say my absolute favorite in the film for sure is the Red Queen, Helena Bonham Carter. I have to admit that I love her as she is one of my favorite actresses ever, of all time, and well you get the idea. Her over sized head just gave me more to look at while she was giving the show stealing performance in my opinion. She hits the “Off with his head” line perfectly throughout the film and delivers me and my girl’s favorite part off the film. That of course is when she yells “IDIOT” at Stayne; you know she is very much like my lady in this film. She yells that at me a lot 2, I’ll let it slide today. Speaking of Stayne Crispin Glover as does an excellent job in this film and looks very, well, awkward I guess as he is very tall and thin. Still it was cool to see him in another theatrical release; I have always liked him [“Willard” is a classic].

As for the rest of the cast they are all as good as the ones previously mentioned such as Anne Hathaway who plays the White Queen. Matt Lucas plays both the Tweedle brothers, Michael Sheen is the rabbit, Alan Rickman plays the Blue Caterpillar, but the show stealer from voice over characters has to be Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat. He steals every scene that he shows up in plus he is a big lazy looking cat like one that I own [it is her cat I swear, she made me get it, I never wanted to own cats but she forced them upon me I swear]. Well regardless of that the Cat is still a bright spot in this film, in fact the one thing that people who didn’t like the movie can agree upon is that the acting was great.

I must also say that the special features on this 3 Disc edition are wonderful and highly recommended, so get the Blu-Ray/DVD combo like we did. Also I think another reason I enjoyed this film so much [aside from Helena Bonham Carter, love her] is that my girl she loves Depp] and little cuz had a wonderful time with this film. Of course my cuz loved it because she is 6 and was completely sucked in by the wonderful images and characters that were before her. Whatever the case was for why I enjoyed this film so much I guess it really doesn’t matter, this review is for my lady since she loved this film and would give it 5 out of 5. So here ya go baby the review I am sure you would have written yourself, Love You and happy Birthday.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWsZ2b_pK4