A Hit and Miss film, and shows 3D is not the future

Rating: 6/10 (1 April 2010)

Tim Burton is obviously is one of the most respected directors around, having made excellent films like Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barbar of Fleet Street. He had made films that have appealed to families to more adult-aimed films. But Tim Burton has also been a director who can also get things very wrong, like with Mars Attack and Planet of the Apes. With Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton directs a sequel to the Lewis Carroll story, and he is given us a film that has many good and bad points.
Mia Wasikowska plays Alice Kingsleigh, a nineteen-year-old woman living in the upper ends of Victorian Society. She is a intelligent woman, quick witted, but doesn't like living her surroundings. She is also a woman who from the age of six had a recurring dream involving strange creatures, likes a smiling cat and a blue caterpillar. After being proposed by a very wet fellow, Alice runs away, following a White Rabbit (Michael Sheen). Alice falls into Wonderland, believing she is in a dream: but their is a debate within the creatures of Wonderland if she is the right Alice. But since Alice last was in Wonderland, the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), had taken over and overthrown the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). It's prophesied that only Alice can stop the Red Queen's reign of terror, and kill her dragon, the Jabberwocky. To aid Alice she forms a group of allies, including the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), The Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor) and Tweedledee (Matt Lucas) and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas).
As stated Tim Burton is a good director with a wild imagination. With Alice in Wonderland is able to create a large, grant world with the aid of green screen technology. He shows a wide range of creatures, and even plays on the idea of a dragon. He design for the Red Queen is excellent, and the Mad Hatter's schizophrenia. But sadly this is also one of Burton's most heartless films, feeling like he was doing so he can do another project. They seems to be a lack of depth within this film and doesn't use the ideas this film created. Also some the the CGI was not as strong as it could have been. Alice in Wonderland has proved to be a successful 3D and along with the success of Avatar Hollywood executives are wetting themselves with excitement, hoping to have a money spinner with 3D. But whilst the 3D with Avatar took years of effort and had special cameras developed to film it, Alice in Wonderland was done retrospectively: with computer experts making the 3D from 2D film. But the 3D in Alice in Wonderland is weak in comparsion. It lacks the effectiveness, and many things were literally thrown at the audience. This shows that retrofitting 3D into films is not the future, and films like Avatar should be a rare treat, not the norm. The script by Linda Woolverton is not as a strong as it could have been. She doesn't use up all the ideas she created, and much of the characterisation is thin. She does try to write a fun film for all the family, with enough of a dark edge for young adults. But they should have been more fun in the film, and particularly more humour.
Tim Burton has found an excellent new star with Mia Wasikowska: a young Aussie with a great future in front of him. She is the best performance in the film, able to show Alice as a quick witted young woman who still has the clouds of doubt over her head. Alice is tough cookie in this film and doesn't want to be dictated to. Burton also goes to his regular actors, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. It is rare for Depp to give a bad performance, and with he does create a character who delightedly mad, and shows to have spats of anger. He even give the audience a good Scottish accent when made. But despite Depp and Burton saying they wanted to bring more depth to the Mad Hatter, they sadly fail to do this. Bonham Carter is one of the best actresses around and she is also good in the film. She makes a great villain, who is prone to anger issues, and her character is given more depth, having a longing to be loved and issues with her looks. But the Red Queen also felt like a superfisical character. The real waste in the film is Anne Hathaway. Hathaway does have a few good moments, particularly comedic moments, but her character is given little screen time, and again, little depth. An smaller name actress or a good comedian could have been just as effective in the role.
Overall there are good action scenes, and it should appeal to all but very young children. Mia Wasikowska shows she is an actress with a future, and there is enough or Tim Burton's die-hard fans to like. But this was a film in need of a stronger script.