It's a bit of a no brainer combo isn't it: Tim Burton + Alice in Wonderland. And judging by the trailers & posters he certainly seems to have nailed the look... but does Burton's vision of Wonderland make for great movie making? My review is down below (its only 2min)
If you've had a chance to see it, I'm dying to know what you all thought. Hit me up in the comments section.
And you can subscribe to the reviews at the triple j movies podcast. (No iTunes? head here)
5 comments:
Spot on, Mark. Helena and Johnny owned the movie and it was deliciously dark. Great 'cameos' by Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry too.
For me, the worst piece of casting was Anne Hathaway, who was dreadful as the White Queen.
This is ironic for someone who, during the course of an interview, spouts endless torrents of Hollywood-ese, about the 'Actors Craft', 'inhabiting a role' etc.
David, I agree with you on Anne Hathaway - she's appalling. Mia Wasikowska is perfect and the best thing about the film. Depp and Bonham Carter are OK given the kaleidoscopic characters they had to inhabit. Sure, with Burton we expect bizarre, but they don't have to look like heroin-addled escapees from his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film.
The film works well when it's focused on the small personal interactions and with the conventional characterisations (like the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat) but is weak when it goes all epic-natured, like Lord of the Rings type battles, etc.
I know that Burton could have done better with this, which he demonstrated with Sleepy Hollow. That has a similar sort of sense, though more muted colours. Anyway, there's always the next film...
Paul, there are many who will see this film that are either fans of, or very familiar with Tim Burton's work.
I lean towards being a fan.
From this vantage point, I thought that the colours were quite muted compared to many of his other films.
Yes, he is a dark, quirky little bugger, but contrasted against many of the dark backdrops are often strong primary colours. "Edward Scissorhands" for example.
There was _some_ of this in "Alice", but not as highly contrasted as I was expecting.
I have heard it mentioned before that the NewGen 3D movies can look a little 'washed out', I wonder if this is the case here?
I saw it in 2D as I'm not a fan of 3D (I find it distracting) and I heard that the colours were more washed out in 3D.
I'm not saying the film is too colourful, but that the Mad Hatter and Red Queen are.
This film is clearly contentious and I sense from what I've read that it may be that Burton was a director for hire (for the studio) rather than having the creative freedom he's usually afforded. Maybe someone can shed more light on this, but if that's true, it explains a lot for me.
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