Too much Tim Burton in a Tim Burton movie.

Rating: 4/10 (4 March 2010)

I was very excited about this film prior to it's release, it went something like this:
Tim Burton's making Alice in Wonderland: "Sounds great!"
Johnny Depp is playing the Mad Hatter: "Oh, that's alright; it's a small part"
The majority of the film will be filmed on a green screen: "Oh...well that's can work. It worked for 300."
All of my initial reactions were wrong. I severely disliked it. Tim Burton has, for years, walked the thin line of CGI vs. reality very well. This is part of what makes him such a successful fantasy-filmmaker, but BOY did he drop the ball on this one.
A lot of people have complained about the excess of CGI and, believe me, this fear is entirely justified. Nothing in the film looks real. Matt Lucas' Tweedle Dee & Dumb look positively cartoony. Several characters are CGI'd when they don't even need to be. The Bandisnatch is an entirely unrealistic-looking animal. Seriously, I could go on for hours. The 3D adds a small level of realism to it and I'll admit that the smoke effects work well when you're watching it through the glasses, but it pretty-much ends there.
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, *sigh*. Depp's performance isn't horrible, with the exception of the Scottish accent...which was just bizarre. However, his face kept reminding me of Marilyn Manson, particularly the eyes. I found it very hard to like his character in the way that Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka were likable. With a new look and no Scottish accent the Mad Hatter could have been fun to watch.
Danny Elfman's score was lacking severely. There's nothing recognizably "Elfmanish" about it. It has no recognizable themes or glorious moments. Thumbs down on all musical fronts.
Now I will say one thing about it that was brilliant: Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat; he's amazing. Not because he did anything particular new with the character, but simply because Stephen Fry IS the Cheshire Cat. The animation and character design of the cat was spot on and I loved every moment he was on screen.
That's it really. Tim, learn from your mistakes! I know you can do better than this. Let's bring things a bit more down to earth for your next film. Just because madness is a theme of Alice in Wonderland doesn't mean the audience has to go mad watching it.