Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - Discussion and Grading

[Dream]

I'm an Alice fan and I really went into this hoping that it would be the awesome Alice movie I've been waiting for for ages. It wasn't but it was okay. But until something better comes along, this one'll stand at the top of Alice flicks...

The only other Alice movies I've seen is the Disney cartoon version and the 1999 Hallmark movie. I thought both were pretty good. Burton's movie was a good possible sequel. I only wished that there were more flashbacks to Alice's first trip through Wonderland.

 

[Joy]

I highly recommend the 1985 TV movie of Alice in Wonderland. That's the version I grew up on. I think I was a pre-teen before I ever saw Disney's animated film.

I still haven't had the chance to go see Burton's AiW. I think I'm gonna wait for March 24, when our English Society has their book discussion + movie viewing. The theater they're going to has the RealD system, much better than the Dolby Digital 3D that the theater in walking distance of me has.

 

[shapeshifter]

Snoozefest...

 

[The Lensman]

The only other Alice movies I've seen is the Disney cartoon version and the 1999 Hallmark movie.

The 1999 Hallmark is a close second to this movie for me. Certainly better than the 80's version IMO. Of course the Hallmark version had the benefit of computer technology to help it along, while the 80's version was just people in animal costumes and make up. And because it had a lot of t.v. stars of the day, the makeup wasn't too great as we cant obscure all those famous actors faces too much!

Also, like the Disney version, the 80's version was a big musical....the Hallmark had some, but not as much musical numbers thank god.

Honestly, I don't know if I've seen the animated Disney flick or not. On the one hand, I have a vague memory of seeing it at a very early age in the early 70's. But unless it was reissued then, prolly not. I also have vague memories of watching a live version of Through The Looking Glass....but the only real memory I have of that is the very begining. Not sure if it was color or BW.

There are a few other versions out there. There is an english version done in the late 60's, early 70's which featured some prominent brit actors of the day. It suffers the same make up issues as the 80's version. And the budget just doesn't begin to do Wonderland justice.

Then there was another one done in roughly the same time period, I think british as well, that was some kind of modern-esque, trippy drug induced version. Completely devoid of any of the stuff that makes Alice so cool.

I only wished that there were more flashbacks to Alice's first trip through Wonderland.

Agreed. That little girl really had the look and would've loved more flashbacks.

 

[ProwlAlpha]

I enjoyed the movie with my step-daughter and she loved it. The visuals were good and I liked Cheshire. The twins were quite laughable as well.

 

[Deckerd]

The posters of Johnny Depp freaked me out. I'll give this one a miss.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Saw this on Sunday and enjoyed it quite a bit. The 3D is not as effective as Avatar, but the movie is visually very appealing and the woman who plays Alice is quite remarkable.

So, in the sequel Alice has to go back and kick the White Queen's butt, right? 'Cause Whitey is a creepy, manipulative witch...

 

[Chaos Descending]

All I know, is that for some reason "Creepy Goth" Anne Hathaway gave me the most enormous chub I've sported in my 30's. Mia Wasikowska didn't hurt either.

Hey, she's legal!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Both are certainly stimulating. Bring on the sequel!

Whitey may have "vows" against killing, but she sure was quick to handcuff her sister to a guy who hates her and carries a sword.

 

[Bishbot]

Both are certainly stimulating. Bring on the sequel!

Whitey may have "vows" against killing, but she sure was quick to handcuff her sister to a guy who hates her and carries a sword.

I really enjoyed the way that The White Queen was basically revealed to be as batshit insane as everyone else in Wonderland. It would have been so easy to have just made her boring.

 

[Chaos Descending]

It's funny you say that, I found this in the Wikipedia article for the film:

Hathaway summed up her character with a caption on a magnet of Happy Bunny holding a knife; "Cute but psycho. Things even out."[23] She is very eccentric and dramatic.[20] According to Hathaway, "She comes from the same gene pool as the Red Queen. She really likes the dark side, but she's so scared of going too far into it that she's made everything appear very light and happy. But she's living in that place out of fear that she won't be able to control herself."

 

[Admiral_Young]

I was really looking forward to seeing this and still am despite the negative views here.

 

[melancholymecha]

well I had a good time. Only my 2nd 3-d Imax film(after Avatar) & I think Burton's style really works well with the technique. Im surprised that while I found Depp's Hatter pretty meh, I loved Glover's character. I loved his whole goth knight look, & this is the first time I ever found Crispin Glover hot(usually he just creeps me out, hehe.)

also, maybe Im just wierd, but I thought the roly-poly twins were kinda cute, like overgrown babies.

.....the world is too linear and orderly. Wonderland never had any kind of temporal continuity to it...or very little. Things happen because they happen and there's a general sort of dreamlike or madness quality to it.

yeah that's another thing, I wasnt expecting everyone to act so rational. I thought maybe the story was gonna be about the Red Queen outlawing craziness/nonsense & everyone was being forced to act sensical/logical but that turned out not to be the case...

 

[Professor Zoom]

I was extremely disappointed in the film.

I found it boring, predictable (hell, we're told the end at the beginning...), about as whimsical as a wet sock, and everything was on the nose.

It would have been REALLY interesting if THIS Alice WASN'T the first Alice...
It would have been REALLY interesting if the prophecy came true in an unexpected way.
It would have been REALLY interesting if there was some wit and whimsy in the movie.

I just couldn't CARE about any of the characters. It was flat. It has no soul. I could go on and on...but, I won't.

 

[SilentP]

All I know, is that for some reason "Creepy Goth" Anne Hathaway gave me the most enormous chub I've sported in my 30's. Mia Wasikowska didn't hurt either.

Hey, she's legal!

Gotta agree with you there on both accounts Hell, that armour was quite flattering

Visually amazing, but like what the others said, the story was quite...meh. I did enjoy watching it though. Have to admit that Mia got the feel of playing 'Alice' though.

 

[Dream]

Walt Disney Studios announced this morning that Alice in Wonderland (2010) has become the sixth movie in history to cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office. Alice broke the barrier yesterday, its 85th day of release. Its split breaks down to $332.3 million domestic and $667.7 million foreign. 3D showings have made up 71 percent of the foreign gross.

Alice in Wonderland joins Avatar, Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and The Dark Knight in the billionaire club. Alice is the third non-sequel in this group, and the first non-sequel that wasn't directed by James Cameron, who made Avatar and Titanic. Alice also made Johnny Depp the first star to headline two billion dollar grossers, following Dead Man's Chest. Among only Disney releases, Alice ranks second to Dead Man's Chest (though Alice has a higher foreign-only haul).

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2793&p=.htm

Alice makes one billion! Hahaha. I don't think anyone thought this movie would be so big.

 

[Jetfire]

I haven't seen the movie...but I love the Avril Lavigne video for the movie.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZb8CnUzUOc[/yt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZb8CnUzUOc