Alice in Wonderland - a dark story of tyranny

{FILM DIARY}

Alice in Wonderland (USA, 2010)

Seen: Friday, 5th March 2010 (cinema)
Runtime: 108′
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover
Production House: Walt Disney Pictures, Roth Films, Zanuck Company, The, Team Todd
Plot: (from imdb)

19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.

Trailer

Rating: 0 (Ok)
I definitely should have +0 and -0 ;-P (It’s Complicated would have been +0 if anyone’s interested ;-P). While I didn’t consider -1 for this one (as I did with Up in the Air), this *is* a -0. What I mean to say is that I did enjoy it, but it left me somehow underwhelmed.

Impressions In Short
I rather hoped it would be funnier *sigh* I mean I enjoyed it anyway, but it just didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

More About the Film
I think I expected the film to be a comedy, when really it’s this rather dark story about a country under tyranny. There’s the hero who has to save the country of course (or rather I should say heroine, but the way the character is written, she could just as well be a boy - they even dress Alice up in armour at one point), there’s lots of strange creatures and colourful lands and there are some comedic moments. But despite that, I felt it was a very dark story really.
Depp’s mad hatter is a very sad, mentally ill character. He does have some funny moments, but overall I felt he was more sad than funny. His sudden personality changes were quite weird - the Scottish accent in particular (I mean Depp is very good with accents and he pulled off the Scottish accent no problem, but it was just so weird to hear him change into it all of a sudden).
Overall though, I wasn’t too keen on the performances in this… Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter were doing stuff I’ve already seen them do - same mannerisms etc. I was even disappointed with Alan Rickman (who has a sort of cameo - it’s mainly his voice). He was just being used for his voice and sarcasm, so it was also the same old thing really. Anne Hathaway surprised me though - she did a very interesting performance as the white queen. It could have very easily been an extremely boring character, but she made it into something more. Crispin Glover and Mia Wasikowska were ok… There was a particular scene between them that I really loved where he hits on her. The line is I love largeness or something like that I think ;)
Aesthetically, the film was very beautiful of course. And there is something about the film that intrigues me - it’s weird ;) Overall, however, I walked out of the cinema feeling a bit underwhelmed and as if it was too much about the aesthetics, animation and all of that. Maybe that’s why I had problems getting into it, I just didn’t feel the human element enough.

Recommended?
For people who are aesthetically-orientated - definitely :) For others… I’m not so sure. It’s an ok film certainly. Anne Hathaway fans should probably take a look - it’s a very interesting performance :)

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