Escape from reality with "Alice in Wonderland"
Having never been a big fan of Lewis Carroll's 1865 literary classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" or its sequel "Through the Looking Glass," I always shied away from watching any of its numerous film adaptations. I tried with the 1951 Disney edition, but had to turn it off due to annoyance with the cartoon voices.
With that being said, not even my lukewarm feelings for the franchise could keep me away from the latest adaptation because it was directed by Tim Burton and featured Johnny Depp.
I adored each of the six movies this charmingly eccentric due has collaborated on since 1990, so it wasn't surprising that I really liked this particular version of "Alice in Wonderland."
Instead of the precocious girl most of us remember, Burton's Alice (played by Australian actress Mia Wasikowska) is now a rather unconventional 19-year-old. She has a mind for business. She refuses to wear her corsets and stockings, a big no-no in Victorian society. And every night since she was a young girl, she has dreamed about talking hares and a very different world filled with odd wonders.
After escaping a public proposal from an ill-suited man, Alice spots the waistcoat-wearing White Rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen) that has been the star of her childhood dreams.
The White Rabbit leads Alice down the rabbit hole, where she encounters the many eye-catching, albeit strange, characters that reside in a place called Underland. There are the fleshy and dim-witted twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), who spots electric blue stripes and a cool voice. There's the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor) that hates everything at first sight, and the captured Bloodhound named Bayard (Timothy Spall) who is forced to use his nose for nefarious deeds. Then there are the four characters that will have the most impact on Alice's adventures in Underland; the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and the smoking caterpillar Absalom (Alan Rickman).
Alice strikes up a friendship with the first two (despite the incoherence from the Mad Hatter), realizes the third one wants to be "off with her head," and is told by the fourth that she is prophesized to slay the vicious beast that will free Underland from the Red Queen's tyrannical rule on Frabbulous Day, which is in about 24 hours.
Despite the dangers, I would say it wouldn't be the worst road trip to go on, and with its zany character, good acting and its lush but semi-apocalyptic world, nor would "Alice in Wonderland" be the worst movie to go see if you're looking for a good family film or just looking for a nice escape. B+
Dedra Cordle is a Messenger staff writer.
