Alice In Wonderland Movie Review (2010)

One thing you need to know before watching the movie – this is a sequel, NOT a remake of the previous Alice In Wonderland (1951) classic cartoon movie.

Thus the sequel, the characters in this Alice in Wonderland movie are pretty much the same as the previous one. With the likes of Mad Hatter, Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Red Queen, White Queen, Tweedledum & Tweedledee, and of course Alice Kingsley herself appearing in the latest movie.

Highlight the words below ONLY if you really want to read the summary of the story. I do not wish to spoil the story for you if you’ve not watched it lol.

*spoiler start*

A grown up 19-year-old Alice Kingsley who has forgotten about her childhood journey into Underland (she misheard it as ‘Wonderland’) and once more takes a trip down the rabbit-hole after ducking out on an engagement proposal that has been arranged without her acknowledgment. Having now returned to the magical world that she thought it was all just a dream, Alice has been destined to save the Underland/’Wonderland’ inhabitants from the tyrannical reign of the Red Queen.
*spoiler end*

Alice in Wonderland is a well-paced, beautifully crafted visual spectacle. Mia Wasikowska does a decent job at embodying the outsider/loner persona in the character of Alice. Johnny Depp playing as the Mad Hatter was simply mad (in a good way). Anne Hathaway taking the role as the White Queen is as though she’s not much of a use in this movie (in other words, not showing up enough, not making use of her properly). Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat is always as mysterious as the original film with its appearances (and disappearances lol).

My thoughts on the movie? Tim Burton shouldn’t have used back the same title – Alice in Wonderland. Very misleading! I thought it was a remake of the original cartoon and went into the cinema thinking: “Eyh? Storyline totally different lol.” And the ‘Wonderland’ looks flat now; there is no more bright, cartoony, tea party feel anymore. It is now a little bit darker, depressing and looked slightly haunted. They should have went with a title like… “Alice Returns to Wonderland”? “Wonderland Returns?” I don’t know… but definitely not the same title for a different piece of story.

One thing for sure is that you’ll definitely have a better understanding of the story if you know about Alice in Wonderland original story (at least go read up the synopsis/summary or something). Because i hear people coming out from the cinema not knowing what the movie was about and couldn’t figure what was happening during the show. No, i didn’t watch the original cartoon movie. But i played Kingdom Hearts game on PlayStation 2 last time and somehow learned the story from there! It helps though, better than knowing nothing

(Mad Hatter sure does look like Joker from The Dark Knight movie lol)

I gotta say that the Digital 3D effect on Alice in Wonderland wasn’t as great and immersed feeling as James Cameron’s Avatar 3D. However it does gives you a feel of like those books with pop-up castles, characters and so on (you get what i mean? Amateur 3D like lol)

Perhaps Tim Burton’s move on making the movie in 2D then later on converting it to 3D might probably be a wrong step. He should have shot the film in 3D at the first place.

Rating: 7/10

DISNEY’S ALICE IN WONDERLAND will be released in Disney Digital 3D on 4th March and opening in cinemas (Malaysia) on 11th March 2010. Wait for it alright!

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