Dear Alice: Are You Not Amazed by What You See?

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Tim Burton's lavish, handsomely mounted version of the Lewis Carroll classic is something to behold - a treasure of hallucinatory fairy-tale images come to life. It is like reading a pop-up fairy-tale book, just like Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was like looking through the dusty pages of vivid illustrations as imagined by J.R.R Tolkien. But what is so vividly realized visually is oddly distancing and meandering in terms of characters and story. It is almost as if Burton's heart wasn't into it as his eyes see miraculous wonders but he is at an emotionally empty lake for the stuff we really care about - storytelling magic and a sense of wonder.

Not to say that "Alice in Wonderland" is not a vision to behold. There is an effervescent color palette; the stark, ominous clouds; the ever beaming White Queen (Anne Hathaway), who glows so much that she might burn your eye sockets; the gleaming, devilish eyes of the Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry); the dimness of Tweedlee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas); the disproportionate head and body of the diabolical Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter); the dull Knave of Hearts (dully played by Crispin Glover, in comparison to the rest of the CGI critters) and much more. For pure visual beauty, Burton's film is as spectacular to watch as it is to listen to. Most dialogue passages, though, are difficult to understand and Johnny Depp's kooky, maniacally giddy Mad Hatter is tough to endure - an inspired creation but a monotonous one as well.

The final battle sequence also feels tired - it would've been more of an inspired touch if Alice had just fought the Jabberwocky while everyone else watched. And Alice, dear grown-up, 19-year-old Alice, is played by an insipid Mia Wasikowska - if they cast someone like the animated Emma Stone (so wonderful in "The House Bunny"), then the film might have been more fun to sit through.

I am also not fond of the idea of making Alice a Victorian teenager, unwittingly getting married to someone rather snooty (Burton already shows his impatience for special-effects when he shows a caffeinated Rabbit long before Alice falls through the hole). The epilogue is fascinating, however, suggesting an exploratory side of Alice's that goes beyond all creatures great and small (some may be a bit miffed that it suggests a colonialist in the making).

I recommend "Alice in Wonderland" because it is a trippy, hallucinatory marvel to watch. But my memory of the 1951 animated version (and the book) was that it was a nightmare with creatures of all sizes and shapes that you wanted to get away from. Alice doesn't seem fazed by them, which is to say she has seen them before (since this film is technically a sequel) and, thus, the magic and wonder and nightmarish quality is gone. It is Alice Just Going Through the Motions but, oh, what Marvelous Sights and Motions.