Displaying Muchness

Rating: 7/10 (6 March 2010)

Greetings again from the darkness. A sequel?? How dare they? When I first heard that Tim Burton was taking on Lewis Carroll's story, I was very excited. What better director to take on this most peculiar work than the man who brought us Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice, Batman and others? The man is a visual genius. But a sequel??
Early in the film, we find an almost 20 year old Alice being proposed to in front of a large crowd of high society types. She spots a rabbit in the bushes and excuses herself, chases the rabbit, and quickly falls down the rabbit hole. The wild ride begins.
Mr. Burton's visual feast takes Alice (Mia Wasikowska) through many of the situations we (and she) are familiar with. The main difference is this is her "return" trip to Wonderland and she is no longer a little girl. She is told her destiny is to defeat the Jabberwocky so that the evil Red Queen's ruling power can be assumed by her sister, the good white queen. This destiny takes Alice through many sites and characters we don't often see.
Johnny Depp is cast as her friend the Mad Hatter. His "mad" look is achieved through a bird's nest of red hair, giant yellow saucer-sized eyes and make-up that would make Lady Gaga jealous. The Red Queen, who captures the Hatter, is played wonderfully by Mr. Burton's wife, Helena Bonham Carter. She has marvelous voice inflections and is as quick with an "off with their heads" as she is a "I need a pig". Her sister, the White Queen, is played oddly but beautifully by Anne Hathaway. The sibling rivalry is a hoot.
We are treated to voice work from three of the best ever: Christopher Lee, Michael Gough and Alan Rickman. Unfortunately, Mr. Lee and Mr. Gough have VERY limited lines, but it was nice of them to contribute. Also contributing are Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall and Matt Lucas.
Once I adjusted to the fact that this was not a re-imagining of the original works, but rather more of a sequel or next step, the film worked fine for me. What I missed was the amazing word play of the great Lewis Carroll. Of course, anyone who actually understood his writings will probably be a bit bored with this version. Luckily, that affects very few!
Mr. Burton's visuals are successful and will probably appeal to most ages. The 3-D seems to have been an after-thought and is most effective with the really cool Cheshire cat. The youngest kids will struggle to follow the Mad Hatter's accent-heavy dialogue, but the pictures and characters (Tweedle-Dee and Dumb) should be enough to keep them entertained.