Has the great Tim Burton visuals, but basically everything else fails

Rating: 5/10 (7 April 2010)

Before I went to see this version of "Alice in Wonderland" on the silver screen last night, I knew it was Tim Burton's latest film, and also knew that it featured more than one talented cast member who had appeared in previous films of his, including Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, who have both appeared in several of them. I had still never read the book by Lewis Carroll, and had only seen the most famous adaptation, the 1951 animated feature from Disney. Since I have very rarely found any of Burton's movies unsatisfying, his own version of this story sounded promising, but I then saw that it wasn't getting the best reception. It's a good thing I knew that before going to the theatre, or else I probably would have been in for an unpleasant surprise.
Alice Kingsleigh has been having strange dreams/nightmares since she was a little girl. At the age of nineteen, she attends a garden party where Hamish Ascot, the son of one of her late father's former business partners, proposes to her. Unsure of whether she should marry him or not, she soon notices a White Rabbit in a waistcoat going by and decides to leave everybody else at the party and chase after it! This leads her to a hole, which she falls down! At the bottom of this hole, she finds herself surrounded by doors, all of which are locked except one which is too small for her to go through. After a struggle, taking potions that make her shrink and grow, she finally makes it out of this room and into a mystical land called Underland, which appears to be the location of her recurring dreams! She meets a series of bizarre characters on her adventure in this land, including the White Rabbit, Tweedledee & Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, the Blue Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, etc. Alice is in Underland to slay a giant creature known as the Jabberwocky and bring down the evil Red Queen!
Around the beginning of the film, before the part where Alice falls down the rabbit hole, I was already bored. Alice seemed like an uninteresting character, as did all the others, and the story seemed so lifeless and boring. This could have all changed after Alice falls down the rabbit hole, but sadly, it doesn't. There are excellent visuals and sets for Underland, the kind of dark visuals one can expect from a Tim Burton movie. Some of the characters are CGI figures, and this animation is also amazing. Unfortunately, these are pretty much the only things I liked about the film. I didn't care much for any of the characters, including Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of the Red Queen, even though I admire these two performers. It seems that both characters are supposed to be comical, but aren't very funny at all, and the same goes for most of the characters in Underland. They're generally just unfunny and bland. I occasionally smiled at some of the gags, I can't deny that, but for the most part, the humour fails as well. As an adventure film, it's not very exciting at all, and I found myself hardly caring what would happen.
In the typical Tim Burton fashion, this adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" has amazing visuals and bizarre aspects, but unlike most of the other films I've seen from him, this one is not very entertaining. While his visual style consistently impresses me, it certainly isn't usually the ONLY thing I like about his movies, as I'm usually pleased with most other aspects of them as well. However, that wasn't the case with this film, and the stunning visuals are not enough to carry it. Not only that, the talented cast is oddly lacklustre here. I remember seeing both "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride" on the big screen in 2005 and not being disappointed by either of them, but this year, when I went to see Burton's latest theatrical release, I was not very happy when I left the theatre. Now, I've certainly seen much worse than this, and many people who have gone to see this fantasy flick in the past month or so clearly weren't let down, but this is my review, and I have to join the naysayers, as much as I wish I didn't.