Burton Tears Apart Carroll's Work and Produces A Forgettable and Soulless Children's Film

Rating: Null/10 (26 August 2010)

When I initially heard that Tim Burton was going to adapt 'Alice in Wonderland', I was thrilled. Who better to cinematically adapt such a dark multilayered and somewhat ambiguous novel? However, after its release I've only heard negative comments and thus my expectations slightly lowered but how bad could it be? After all it's a frickin Tim Burton movie (I had stayed away from 'Planet of the Apes').
Finally I got the opportunity to see it and I couldn't believe my eyes, that this was created by the man who gave us 'Edward Scissorhands', 'Ed Wood', 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'Big Fish' (just to name a few examples of the great works he did). To me, 'Alice in Wonderland' was pretty much just another forgettable Harry Potter type movie but even those Potter films had heart. What happened to Tim Burton?
By no means is this a genuine adaptation. It doesn't stay true to its source at all. Needless to say, Burton has stripped the novel of all its layers, dumped the core, took the names and physical descriptions of the characters and a few scenes and gets Linda Woolverton to write a lame screenplay that barely resembles the book. The film was clearly made for children and so the darkness and ambiguity Carroll's work have been torn off the script. The best lines are those that were taken from the book. Most of the comedic scenes, even though they might draw some chuckles from the viewer, are completely out of place.
'Alice in Wonderland' looks appealing but the CGI is nothing extraordinary. While the animation is colourful and detailed, the stop motion movement is a constant reminder that this is just another CGI world. The cinematography, makeup and costumes are brilliant but certainly not enough to save this disaster. However, Anna Hathaway's makeup was quite inconsistent. In some scenes, her White Queen is pale and in others she's just Hathaway's normal skin colour. The score is quite bad.
Helena Bonham Carter and Matt Lucas were quite good. Johnny Depp does the best with what he's given but unfortunately his Mad Hatter has been toned down a little too much and his character eventually comes across as dull while still begging for the viewer's sympathy. Anna Hathaway provides some comic relief (but then again, the comedy is too out of place). The worst performance comes from Mia Wasikowska. Now she is no bad actress (as is evident in 'In Treatment') but here her line delivery is terrible and her expressions are far from convincing. It's the kind of acting one would see in a children's film or think of a mother reading a book to her child, yes, that's how Wasikowska sounds.
Anyway, to summarize it in one sentence, this 'Alice in Wonderland' is like any other forgettable children's film. I doubt even children would enjoy it half as much as they would enjoy a Pixar movie. It lacks soul and sincerity. Burton better makeup for this.