Alice In Wonderland: Take it or leave it, sadly

Rating: 5/10 (5 March 2010)

Prior to the movie, I was still holding onto hope. I had read the complaints about Alice In Wonderland. After the movie all I can add is confusion. This is what happens when you feel disdain and admiration. Thankfully the feelings are separated distinctly To cover my butt, I am starting off with what some may consider spoilers. You decide.
***** POSSIBLE SPOILERS***** 3D or not 3D: I opted for the 3D version. What I feared from 3D is that the special attention to 3D might interfere with the attention to story and acting. THat indeed happened. While, for the most part, 3D was done well, so many times, the intricacies which should dazzle were too flittery and fast and sometimes fuzzy so it was not used to the best of its ability. But the staples were used in terrific fashion. Depth, color, stationary backgrounds, and normal motion fit well into the 3D scheme of things, however. So I am guessing that the non-3D version may have a definite advantage over 3D. Given all that, I am sure if you have half a notion, you will still want to see it in 3D if possible. So go, but be forewarned.
Acting: Depp and Carter were beautiful. Mia Wasikowska played an excellent Alice but I think her character was so distorted by Burton's darker desires that it will soon be forgotten who did play Alice. On the other hand, Depp and Carter were so absurd and colorful as Mad Hatter and Red Queen they immediately drew my respect and admiration. However, the Red Queen was the only one of those two characters that I felt remained most closely relevant while Mad Hatter often reminded me of Depp's flaky Jack Sparrow thanks to unforeseen feistiness in some scenes. That takes me back to why I was not too happy with Alice - didn't like the warrior in armor scene at all. As for Glover and Hathaway, neither offered much talent. Hathaway's quirkiness as the White Queen was just too unappealing.
Story: I so wish the story was the original Alice and not a sequel of sorts. While it was definitely Burton's story it was not a great story at all. Again, making Alice a warrior was not what I, personally, wanted to see. Characters seemed too self absorbed. Fast paced humor came and went but only would have worked well if there was enough time to feel some endearment to the character.
Overall: Right down the middle because things felt way too fragmented. I will say that I am thankful that the job of bringing book-true Alice In Wonderland was not given to Burton but I hope we get a version that looks as good artistically as this one did and then some.
5 out of 10