Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

After Disney announced that they would not be doing the next Chronicles of Narnia film, Voyage of the Dawn Trader many wondered what would be Disney's next attempt to clone the success of Lord of the Rings franchise. If not Narnia then why not take another Lewis's successful book, Alice in Wonderland. Though the film has already been done by Disney in the past, that didn't stop them there. Instead, they would hire the director of weird and quirkiness Tim Burton to make a new version in his vision.

Last weekend, I popped into the theater to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Though I've enjoyed Burton's previous works on films such as Sweeney Todd and Edward Scissorhands. My hopes were not very high for this film. Mainly cause I still loved Walt Disney's original film back in the day. I was pleased to see my expectations of the film were thoroughly wrong.

The film begins with a young woman named, Alice Kingsley (Mia Wasikowska) who is proposed to by a rich wealthy man. But Alice doesn't love him and soon leaves when she spots a white rabbit named Niven McTwisp (Michael Sheen) and quickly follows. Nearing the end of her chase, Alice falls down a rabbit hole down to the realm known as the Underland or more commonly known as Wonderland as referred to by its locals.

Apparently, Alice has visited Underland before as a child, but has lost all memory of her past journey. She then runs into various strange characters in Underland such as the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). The Red Queen (Helena Boham Carter) has seized control of Underland by stealing the crown from her sister the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) with the help of her pet the menacing, Jabberwocky. Alice must slay the Jabberwocky on the Frabjous Day using the Vorpal Sword.

The plot seems solid but the film falls apart with yet another generic battle sequence in the end. Yet, I have found the rest of the film to be quite enjoyable. Burton's style resonates through the first two acts of the film, but slowly loses its luster in the third act. Also the film is riddled with screenwriter, Linda Woolverton's influence with elements of feminism, which would be quite unrealistic due to the film's set time period.

Other problems I have found with the film was the need for 3-D, which this film undoubtedly didn't need. And with miss Anne Hathaway's performance as the White Queen. Throughout her scenes I begged her to please put her hands down. Though this would've been part of her character, still unsure whether this was the case.

Despite the problems above, this film is enjoyable to all, but I strongly recommend parents not to bring their children. As some scenes may be deemed too frightening. Overall, it was still a delightful experience as expected from a Disney film.

iCritic Grade: B+