Tim Burton and Disney join forces for this 3D fantasy adventure based on the characters from the Lewis Carroll classics 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass'. Mia Wasikowska stars as the nineteen-year-old Alice, who returns to the magical world of her childhood adventure to reunite with her friends the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Tweedledum and Tweedledee (both played by Matt Lucas), the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) and the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry). Alice discovers her true destiny as she joins forces with the colourful denizens of Wonderland to overthrow the wicked Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).
| Starring: |
Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, Christopher Lee, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Matt Lucas, Timothy Spall, Barbara Windsor |
| Director: |
Tim Burton |
| Run time: |
108 minutes |
| Languages: |
English |
| Distributor: |
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MyMovies
After plundering his local children's library to remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton once again turns to kids' ...
After plundering his local children's library to remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton once again turns to kids' literature for inspiration as he puts his very own spin on Lewis Carroll's classic tale.A 19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is on her way to a social gathering where, unbeknownst to her, Lord Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill) will propose to her. Like any obedient young woman, Alice is expected to politely accept; but Alice is not just any young woman - she is the daughter of Charles Kingsley who was an adventurer at heart with a desire to explore the world. Instead, Alice flees the proposal with Ascot still on one knee and follows a white rabbit down a hole. She is transported to the magical Underland (or "Wonderland") which she visited ten years earlier, but had forgotten about. She is reunited with her motley crew of strange friends, including the mercurial Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) from whom she learns that it is her destiny to slay the terrifying Jabberwock and save Underland from the rule of the tyrannical Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). She is forced to confront her fears and discover if she really is the champion of this magical world.Following the success of Avatar, do audiences have any more breath left to gasp at the visual splendour of 3D? Well, actually, yes. Burton's Wonderland is the visionary director's imagination writ large. It is a colourful, intriguing and inventive world full of rich detail - a picture painted with a rainbow of colours on a 3D canvas. This, coupled with the scene-stealing performances from Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, should be enough to guarantee box office success for Alice in Wonderland.And yet, it is difficult not to feel underwhelmed by this latest in a long line of Alice adaptations. The plot, which combines both of Carroll's novels, seems muddled, reducing large parts of the film to nothing more than eye-catching set pieces. Meanwhile, Mia Wasikowska lacks a sense of (pardon the pun) wonder in her performance and falls short of being particularly memorable. It's not Burton's finest work, but there's still plenty to love about his Wonderland.
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Press Association
Combining a unique aesthetic, conjured from his twisted imagination, with dark humour and heartfelt emotion, Tim Burton has remained a ...
Combining a unique aesthetic, conjured from his twisted imagination, with dark humour and heartfelt emotion, Tim Burton has remained a visionary in a sea of profit-driven conformity. His opening two chapters of the Batman franchise pushed boundaries in mainstream box office fare, leading to the introduction of the 12A certificate in the UK. Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow plumbed the grimy depths of the human condition, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, while more recently, Burton put his distinctive spin on Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd. Johnny Depp has been a regular collaborator during the past two decades, and the Oscar nominated actor gets top billing in this wild re-imagining of the books of Lewis Carroll. Based on a screenplay by Linda Woolverton (The Lion King), Burton's descent down the rabbit hole is a characteristically eye-catching and quixotic journey of self-discovery in a world where anything can, and probably will, happen. Fans of the director's earlier work will recognise his thumbprints on the grotesque character design, and the colourful sets, many of which are rendered digitally. However, the action-oriented narrative owes rather a lot to The Golden Compass and the Narnia films in terms of the imagery and plot developments. Curiouser and curiouser... The film opens with rebellious 19-year-old heroine (Mia Wasikowska) faced with a most unexpected marriage proposal from bumbling twit, Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill). Fleeing the public proposal to clear her head, Alice chases a White Rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen) down a hole, and reunites with old friends the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), Absolem the Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman), The Dormouse (Barbara Windsor) and The Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), who she cannot remember from her earlier visit to Wonderland. Alice learns she is destined to slay the fearsome Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee), owned by the decapitation-happy Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Alice In Wonderland screens in 3D in selected cinemas and the technology works best at the beginning of the film, when Alice tumbles down the hole and objects fly at the screen, compelling us to duck and dive. On the whole, Burton's vision loses very little in traditional 2D. The visuals are stunning, as you would expect, but characterisation is weak, and Depp's turn as the Mad Hatter is one bout of lunacy too far. Armed with various strange accents, his mad milliner is unintelligible in places. Bonham Carter is an absolute delight as the maniacal monarch with the unnaturally large noggin, who employs swine as footstools: "I love a warm pig belly for my aching feet!" The framing device of the marriage proposal robs the film of any sense of urgency or danger - how can Alice be harmed when she has to return to the world above to give Hamish her answer? - as we search in vain for the substance behind the style.
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