Too little wonder in Wonderland

Rating: 5/10 (6 March 2010)

Burton seems to have strayed too far from wonderland. He gives us some magical effects and a degree of mild peril. But where is the wonder? Where is the danger? I had hoped for the kind of nightmarish vision that Carroll evokes, interpreted for the 21st century, but the world that Burton has created is far closer to the Disney 1950s animated version. Helena Bonham Carter gives a good turn as the Red Queen (clearly basing her performance on Miranda Richardson's magnificent 'Queenie' from Blackadder), though Johnny Depp is a big disappointment. Yes, his mad hatter is clearly mad, but to what effect? It felt as if Dick Van Dyke was impersonating a cross-dressing Scotsman. Best of the 'voices' without a doubt is Alan Rickman's perfectly unsettling caterpillar.
Burton's reimagining of Alice is also annoying. I like the fact that Alice is now on the verge of womanhood, and that her sexual/romantic confusion comes into play, but Burton really misses the opportunities that this set-up provides. Instead he tries to turn her into a 21st century hero. Great that she is given a bit of gumption, but did he have to give her balls, too? As a number of scenes at the end of the film make clear, Alice is not capable of being strong and powerful as a woman - she has to turn herself into a man (the final image even has her wearing a tie). Had the film been more intelligent, I would like to have thought that this was Burton's way of describing the lot of Victorian women, instead it just feels like a backfiring attempt at clumsy feminism.
Burton would have done well to take a look at the 1903 film of Alice in Wonderland which has become a YouTube phenomenon. This film is truly unsettling and magical in equal parts and despite its disjointed nature, conjures up Wonderland perfectly.