Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"

ZeldaGirl · #1

Just came back from it, REALLY good. Everything - the actors, the effects, the soundtrack! Probably one of my favorites from Burton now.

Also, Johnny Depp just amazes every time. You expect him to be wild and crazy, but you can never really prepare yourself for the amount of depth he brings to his characters. It was a pleasant surprise from him. Helena Bonham Carter was brilliant. Mia Wasikowska was so charming as Alice. Seriously, I highly recommend this movie.

Kargath · #2

Did you watch the 3D version?

Deepfake · #3

I'm interested in the flic, although its a bittersweet occasion that Disney's gone and made it - they literally made this film to oppress the would-be adaptation of American McGee's Alice game. Big legal fight happened over the rights, Disney had to save face by actually using their options.

I'm certainly glad it ended up in Burton's hands, at least.

Bomby · #4

Is it available in 2D at all? It looks awesome, but I can't stand 3D, so I'm not sure it's worth the massive headache I'll get afterward.

YouTube · #5

Based on this question:

Kargath wrote:Did you watch the 3D version?

I would presume there is a 2D version also.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

#6

Does it compare favourably to the old animated one?

ZeldaGirl · #7

Bomby, I am personally not a fan of 3D, but I actually did enjoy the 3D effects - they were well done without making me feel sick.

Boo, I'm not actually a big fan of the older animated adaptation. HOWEVER, this wasn't an adaptation of the actual story so much as it was taking the mythos of Carroll and creating a new story based around it. It had elements of "The Jaberwocky," "Wonderland," and "Through the Looking Glass" but did not follow the actual script of any. That being said, I liked it more than the animated version...but because that creeped me out when I was young. :(

(Though, this movie is not really geared towards kids either...)

#8

Huh. I guess I always thought the cartoon was kind of universally appealing. Like how everyone likes 'Power Stone', or that song 'You Didnt Have To Be So Nice' by the Lovin Spoonful. Learn something new every day.

I might go see it. Tim Burton's movies can be kind of a mess, especially when he's retreading ground already covered by past filmmakers.

PK FIRE! · #9

I Might give it a rent mostly becuase of how from the title and trailers don't mesh. When I hear Alice in Wonderland that's what I expect said movie to be about, granted even the old Animated film mixed in alot of eliments from Through the looking glass as well.

Also I know it's his job but I got tired of seeing Depp in movie trailers After the eather dissatisfying Wonka Remake.

- You stupid dog.

SephirothKirby · #10

I haven't seen it yet, I plan on it, but I don't think it'll be as good.

Also, they ruined Mad Hatter's character design.

Valigarmander · #11

It has Christopher Lee in it, so I'm bound to see this someday.

Metal Mario · #12

Saw it tonight. It was pretty good. It gives a new twist to an old story without bastardizing it. Tim Burton didn't **** it up, and that's high praise when you're talking about Tim Burton.

Marilink · #13

I really really liked it. It managed to be its own thing while it was heavily borrowing from a lot of other things. I also was digging a lot of the symbolism.

Metal Mario · #14

Batman is Tim Burton's greatest film. I hope to one day meet Burton and tell him that, just so I can watch his damn head explode.

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · #15

...So you probably don't like Burton?

Metal Mario · #16

He's okay. He can be very hit-or-miss. Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were all an absolute disgrace to their source material, and Mars Attacks! blew chunks as well. Ed Wood is very good, however, and Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Sweeney Todd were decent. And I wasn't kidding when I said Batman is his best. I give that film 5/5 stars. Even in the face of Christopher Nolan's awesome new Batman franchise, Burton's 1989 film stands up as a great interpretation. Jack Nicholson's Joker slays me.

Lurch1982 · #17

Bomby wrote:Is it available in 2D at all? It looks awesome, but I can't stand 3D, so I'm not sure it's worth the massive headache I'll get afterward.

The megaplexes here have it in standard flavor, fake IMAX flavor, and 3D flavor (and maybe a fake IMAX 3D flavor, I'm not sure). I saw it in 3D, thought it used the gimmick pretty well (similar to how I thought Coraline was much better in 3D).

ZeldaGirl wrote:
Boo, I'm not actually a big fan of the older animated adaptation. HOWEVER, this wasn't an adaptation of the actual story so much as it was taking the mythos of Carroll and creating a new story based around it. It had elements of "The Jaberwocky," "Wonderland," and "Through the Looking Glass" but did not follow the actual script of any. That being said, I liked it more than the animated version...but because that creeped me out when I was young. :(

(Though, this movie is not really geared towards kids either...)

Basically this.

Its basically Burton taking a relatively untouched pair of novels and revisiting them in a sequel. In that sense, it works. I admittedly liked this better than an American McGee's Alice adaptation because, well, the other was a nice indulgence but it was basically a disservice to the source material. This at least tries to capture what made the source material good.

Also wholeheartedly agree with this not being geared to younger kids. Its sort of the same thing Coraline had. Yeah, its PG and there really isn't much that would put it over the edge, but I wouldn't take younger kids to this because its a little too intense. I caught it Friday afternoon, and there was a herd of scream-crying children in the place.

Bomby · #18

I have no doubt that the 3D might be cool in places. My main problem with it is that the converging lights give me huge headaches, especially in the shallow focus shots...

... anyway...

Coincidentally, we actually watched Beetlejuice in one of my classes the night before the opening of Alice, and were discussing his work in class yesterday. As far as Burton as a director goes, I don't always like his films, but I do pretty much always like how they look. The idea of having him direct Alice in Wonderland seemed like the right choice to me, though judging by word of mouth from my TA's and classmates I think I might put this one off until DVD. Besides, I still haven't seen Shutter Island yet.

Metal Mario · #19

^Shutter Island is actually quite cliche and predictable. Not up there with Scorsese's best, by a long shot.