Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Title: Alice in Wonderland (爱丽丝梦游仙境)
Director: Tim Burton
Written By: Linda Woolverton
Genre: Fantasy Adventure, Live Action and Animation
Year: 2010
Running Time: 108 minutes

Of course, when Tim Burton declared that he was doing a Alice in Wonderland tale, I wasn't quite surprised. The tale was certainly popular enough that there was bound to be a few remakes or spin-offs at least. Tim Burton's movie features a now grown-up (teenage) Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska). We see her having recurring nightmares about her previous trip to Wonderland (Underland, as it is called in the movie). She takes these to be simply dreams, little realizing that they are real. Soon into the movie, Alice reunites with the White Rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen) and follows him once more down the rabbit hole. However, Underland was hardly as fun as her last visit. The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) has taken the throne from her sister the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and cloaks the land with terror. Creatures have been hunted down and beheaded. All those remaining are hoping dearly for Alice's return in order for her to slay the fearsome Jabberwocky (voiced by Christopher Lee) and defeat the Red Queen. Throughout the film, Alice meets other familiar characters such as the Chesire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) on her quest to defeat the Red Queen.


Having missed the chance to watch the movie in theaters, I waited a long time for the DVD to come out. After much hard waiting, I finally managed to get my hands on a DVD and watch the movie. Having heard countless reviews from my friends about how "awesome" this movie was, I was undoubtedly excited. However, this movie was a sore disappointment. First off, I really dislike the casting choice for several of the characters, particularly Alice. The acting was also pretty bad. It was stilted and awkward. For example, Hathaway has her arms up in air for the entire movie as she plays the White Queen. I understand if the move is used once or twice to show a sense of grace but having it played the entire time really ruins the effect. The makeup for Alice was also overdone, having way too much powder. It questions me as to why Hathaway's brows were kept black while her wig is white. It just doesn't make sense. The horses in the movie also looked fake, despite knowing that they were computer animated. The proportions for the Chesire Cat were also off. I don't know if they did that on purpose, but most certainly the cat's head is larger than its body. To me, Alice is also an extremely annoying character. She insists that her trip down in Underland is all a dream and makes a great deal of showing that "This is my dream and I'm the one that gets to control it". Talk about super annoying. Plus, she only runs away from her problems. When someone proposes to her, she runs off. When the Underland creatures ask her to take on the Jabberwocky, she runs off yet again. Overall, the movie portrayed bad makeup and bad acting and also special effects that were rather disappointing for a Tim Burton film. The only good characters in the movie are the ever crazy March Hare and the Chesire Cat though Crispin Glover does make for a handsome Knave of Hearts.