Alice in Burtonland with a touch of King's Speech

Rating: 2/10 (7 June 2011)

Burton gets his inspiration from several sources, none of which is the original book (because it's hard to believe it is). One is Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland' which Tim probably despises for the overall happiness and subliminal messages – funny how the goal justifies the means as the same sword in different hands signifies a tool of justice, not crime. A major source is the video game 'American McGee's Alice'. Another potential source could be the Czech stop-motion movie 'Alice' (1988) by the renowned director Jan vankmajer – and while we cannot know for certain Burton even saw it, it servers as an example of just how different (albeit darkly toned as well) can another vision of the same book be. All these adaptations know what they want to say and how to say it. No hypocrisy. Burton's movie? It lies and it cheats, and it leaves a nasty aftertaste.
Whacky, burtonesque, johnnydeppesque makeup covers up a nationalist, chauvinist and racist structure with some very arguable messages. Underneath, otherwise very common and traditional values are found: open market, militarism, domination and oppression. This is shared by all popular fantasy blockbusters of today. Now, they all have elements which work splendidly on many levels. Even Burton's movie has its moments during the first half. It all falls apart though when you recognize what is being served to you on a silver platter with whispers of flattery to your ear. Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Burtonland. What do they have in common? Blind faith in the purpose of holy wars, noble leaders we ought to die for, old orders and hierarchies in need of preserving, ancient prophecies which instill fear and belief we need to fulfill them (so the circle can be closed and eventually start over).
/*SPOILER ALERT*/ All of this (and more) can be found in Burton's adaptation. Alice runs away from a reality where an arranged engagement is being forced on her, disappearing during the whole ceremony and coming back to Wonderland – first time in 13 years. She doesn't remember she was there before and believes it to be a dream. On her merry way she meets all the well-known characters and finds out her destiny is to once again defeat the evil that weighs heavy on the once beautiful land. To give a proper reason for it, ancient prophecy is presented (sigh). It turns out she has to find the Sword stolen from the White Queen, which will enable her to defeat the big and scary Jabberwock (another roaring black dragon, really). Jabberwock is a home pet of the mean and despicable Red Queen. White Queen is auto ironic as she parodies innocent and perfect Disney princesses. She is in fact disturbingly sexual when holding symbols of power in her hands: the Sword and later the Crown. In a 'thrilling' and 'breath-taking' crescendo the land is polarized, with two armies meeting head on. They meet on a huge chess board intended for mass blood loss in service of the queen and country, being (appropriately) amorphous masses of cards and chess pieces so the viewer can fully concentrate on the excitements of war. The main characters exchange some fierce and pain-promising looks (as if some kind of a prison fight is about to ensue) and then the 'spectacular' massacre begins. In the heat of the battle, nimble Alice cuts of Jabberwock's head. The scene ends with Captain Sparrow/Sweeney Todd/Mad Hatter (with whom we had to feel sympathetic earlier due to the dragon roasting his yard grass and a few friends along with it). He turns into comic relief while doing the Justin Timberlake robot dance. Wait, what? Seriously? After cheap moralizing and bad satire that trembles under the weight of its own spuriousness, we get CGI Johnny Depp's robot dance? And what a relief it would be if the movie by some miracle threw a big sign saying FIN here - it would then soothingly be just another empty and stupid Hollywood flick. But no. What comes after is much, much worse. Alice comes back to reality and (to everyone's surprise) informs her not-so- future husband she won't be marrying his sorry a55, and then tells her mother and aunt it's her life (it's now or never, she ain't gonna live forever) and the big decisions are her to be made. Then she confronts her almost-father-in-law (former business partner of her father) and asks for a professional meeting in order to discuss the future of their business. Wait, what? In a short and 'invigorating' conversation we find out she wants to get in the deal and broaden their markets by expanding to China, the unexplored land with untapped possibilities. The almost- father-in-law is overjoyed with her ambitious mindset, and so the next scene shows little Alice standing on a boat ready to embark for the far continent. A butterfly (the former Wonderland caterpillar) flies by her and Alice symbolically says good riddance to her childhood, accepts the harsh reality and becomes a fierce and daring industrialist/capitalist. Lesson effing learned.
That's the message of the movie then. Just like the king George VI. in 'King's Speech', the character with which the viewer is supposed to bond and identify learns he needs to stop being human – to become a man. It is a false liberation: Alice from the heavy regulated society, Red Queen from her own complexes, White Queen from political ineptitude, Mad Hatter from inability to act (but what action is that?). Personal liberation of George VI. in 'King's Speech' is false in pretty much the same ways: liberation from inability to force himself upon others, to dominate his inferiors (inferior by what and whose criteria?), liberation from the last speck of human dignity and conscience that stand in the way of success and power. Because, what kind of a man (or woman for that matter) can't get what (s)he wants by force, right?
Right?