Burton's Disasterpiece.

Rating: 3/10 (18 March 2011)

Very few movies by Tim Burton do I dislike. I am a huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, James and the Giant Peach, and Edward Scissorhands. However, Alice In Wonderland was dreadful.
Last year, I saw Alice In Wonderland, and I thought it was horrible. First of all, everything in this movie looks like CGI. It was like watching Avatar again, with different actors. I am amazed at the great computer graphics used and the good motion-capture, but even Johnny Depp said himself that it wasn't fun working on the film. It's a little distracting when you have to watch CGI in every scene of a movie. Did I say a little distracting? Every scene has CGI and it's beyond distracting.
I have to say that aside from CGI, this movie is a failure because of the story. I prefer the Alice In Wonderland film from 1999, for the simple fact that it's not grounded. It's a movie full of random events and it's not clouded by a bunch of CGI. It is not trying to be anything special or realistic. This story in Burton's Wonderland is grounded. What I mean is, these things that happen in the novel aren't random, and Alice has already been here before. She just doesn't remember (sound familiar -- Hook?). What annoys me most of all, is the overall finale to the story is she has to kill this creature, the Jabberwocky, which would allow for the White Queen to rule Underland (huh?) again and banish the Red Queen.
I couldn't stand the grounded story and due to the grounded story, this movie is not very comedic. I chuckled maybe twice? I remember laughing a lot at the 1999 film because of the rabbit and his teacup party friend. However, this movie is almost entirely a drama and due to the story it's very serious. It's not really a fun movie for anyone, least of all kids.
If you want a fun Alice In Wonderland movie, I'd suggest buying or renting the 1999 version which stars Tina Majorino as Alice. It's a much more superior version because it allows for unlimited story and it doesn't get overrun with CGI. It's more of a kids movie, as well.