Good Theme for the Entire Family

Rating: 8/10 (23 September 2012)

This 2010 Tim Burton piece features Mia Wasikowska as matured Alice Kingsleigh, Johnny Depp as the mad The Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter as the evil Red Queen. Anne Hathaway plays the beautiful White Queen and Matt Lucas doubles his role as Tweedledee and Tweedledum. In this version, Alice has accidentally returned to Wonderland nearly a decade after her first visit. While she has no recollection of the place, her old friends have been anticipating her return. Alice is the only one able to slay the Red Queen's evil Jabberwockey so that the people can reclaim Wonderland and restore it to its natural beauty. Time is running out and the Queen is on a mission to protect her reign. After much danger and adventure with The Hatter as her guide, Alice eventually remembers her past in Wonderland, heroically slays the Jabberwocky, and returns the throne to the White Queen. Alice in Wonderland is a whimsical adventure about the truth of human nature and the struggle for human dignity. Burton does a good job with his use of color and lighting throughout the film to really show the viewer the ruin that Wonderland endured over time. Most of us hear the title of the film alone and automatically think about the colorful cartoon of the pleasant Wonderland so the darkness grabs our attention, disappointingly for some. The land is as pale as the characters are since the life has literally been sucked out of Wonderland with the exception of the Red Queen's kingdom. This is crucial to the theme because it shows what all she has taken from the land. It also helps Alice to overcome her fears because she's able to understand her importance just by looking at her surroundings. This is very similar to the color and lighting technique's that Burton used in his 2005 version of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, another favorite of mine that often gets the rotten tomatoes. I agree with some others that the dark twisted way that Tim Burton dramatizes the theme(s) of Alice in Wonderland may not be all the way pleasant for small children. However, the film instills a good message overall and was put together well enough for the entire family to enjoy together. Good Stuff Burton.