The Bona Venture

Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Features

Video courtesy of YouTube.com

Want a quirky visual feast? Buy a ticket now for "Alice in Wonderland." But if you're looking for much more than 3-D artistry and a satisfying dose of Johnny Depp, you better look elsewhere.

Directed by the legendary Tim Burton ("Sweeney Todd," "Edward Scissorhands"), "Alice" begins with 19-year-old Alice Kingsley (newcomer Mia Wasikowska) struggling with big decisions about her future. She sees a white rabbit in a waistcoat at a garden party, runs after it and - of course - falls down the rabbit hole, returning to the Wonderland she first experienced as a child.

"Alice," based on a combination of the children's classics "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll, takes bits and pieces of both books and mixes them with Burton's signature twisted vision.

Wonderland, actually named Underland, is more like a nightmare than a dream, a dreary wasteland ruled by a totalitarian Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Alice finds out she is Underland's Chosen One, destined to slay a horrible, dragon-like creature called the Jabberwocky and restore peace to Underland. Along the way, she meets a hookah-smoking blue caterpillar (Alan Rickman), a Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), along with a whole host of other screwball characters.

The strength of "Alice" lies with those characters - except for Alice herself. The cast is a parade of A-list actors at its eccentric best. Depp steals the show from behind his bizarre, Cirque du Soleil-style makeup, making the Mad Hatter one of the oddest, most sympathetic characters of the movie. Rickman is delightfully patronizing, and Bonham Carter creates an extremely convincing eccentric, insecure Red Queen.

However, no matter how entertaining the supporting cast, nothing can quite save the emotionless, pale Wasikowska. Although Burton transformed her character from a curious schoolgirl to an action hero, she still comes off as childish and indecisive.

For instance, toward the beginning of the film, the Mad Hatter tries to convince Alice of her destiny. When she keeps petulantly insisting she's not going to help them slay the Jabberwocky, he stares at her, perplexed.

"Something's missing. You've lost much of your muchness," he says to her. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Burton shines in the background and scenery of "Alice." He excels in the details, from the severed heads floating in the Red Queen's moat to the perfect red heart painted on her lips. Add in the impressive 3-D effects, especially in action scenes like Alice's flight from the Red Queen's soldiers or her battle with the Jabberwocky, and "Alice" holds its own as a visual masterpiece.

However, the plot falters, relying on the overdone storyline of an unlikely hero fulfilling her destiny despite overwhelming odds. Instead of delighting in the surreal, topsy-turvy world his protagonist has fallen into, Burton makes Alice's quest for self-confidence and purpose the focus of the movie.

"Alice" also tweaks random, unnecessary details of Carroll's original stories.

For instance, Burton makes it very clear that his Underland is no dream of Alice's - it's an actual reality where she can be injured or even killed, filled with its own brand of oppression and political drama. But the entire point of the original "Alice in Wonderland" is that it is all a dream. It's supposed to be an exercise in imagination, a place where nothing makes sense.

The Jabberwocky is another whimsical idea gone wrong. It is originally a nonsense poem, composed by Carroll and filled with made-up words. Burton takes that gibberish, squeezes out the fun and puzzling aspects and transforms it into a terrifying beast Alice needs to slay.

Overall, "Alice" was an entertaining theater experience, especially viewed in 3-D. However, in the process of making the classic story his own, Burton loses much of the original intention and strengths of the books.

For curious Burton novices or Johnny Depp fans, "Alice" is definitely worth a watch. But if you're looking for the fondly remembered Wonderland of your childhood, steer clear; you're not going to find it here.

e-mail: kiblerkj@sbu.edu

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