June 19, 2010
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To be brutally honest, I've never fully liked Alice In Wonderland. It's really nitpicky, what I'm sure my cousin would call elitist reasons. That said and regardless, I always find myself drawn back to it. Whether it's Nick Willing's Alice, American McGee's Alice, or television adaptions such as this one (fans of Napoleon Dynamite will love the casting choice for Alice), I always find myself enjoying offspring of the books.
I should probably put it this way: in total, I am not happy with Alice In Wonderland; however, it has many moments of brilliance which make faithful remakes of the original totally enjoyable.
So, when I saw the trailer for Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, I was skeptical. As anyone who knows me knows, I love Burton. Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands are fantastic and delightful. Beetlejuice is one of my all time favorite movies. Corpse Bride is Burton at his traditionally most realized.
Yet, well, he screwed up my Hatter. I prefer the Hatter in a more traditional making, quite like American McGee's before he gets demented (see the opening movie of the video game to see what I mean). Johnny Depp is not that Hatter.
Yet, after seeing the movie today...well, it's Burton's best yet, I think. It's everything by him at it's most realized. I don't think I've seen so perfectly flawless a movie since The Exorcist, Shortbus, or Show Me Love.
You have to first realize that it is not a remake of the first two books but a sequel. That is an important fact. For, artistically, it opens up very different paths and expectations.
And in that vein, Burton has created a movie that stays true to the books, often in ways that fit the madcapped tone that simultaneously stays true to the books' lunacy and fits Burton's own, capable at times of embellishing self-consciously (I didn't know tone could do it 'til now) until it becomes something else entirely, both familiar and different. And yet in so many ways it still allows signature Burton themes to roam free.
The artful and insane landscapes that so often make his movies (Edward Scissorhands comes to mind) as well as the utterly on-point thematic nature of the film. No matter how crazy it became or what it was doing, it was flawless in terms of shots, landscape, and musical score for every scene.
And for a book that was literary nonsense, the movie maintains this while bringing coherency on some level at all times (often the emotional one).
That probably doesn't describe it right or clearly. But oh well. It was amazing and I'm buying it the second I get the chance.
Comments (2)
I haven't seen his rendition of Alice in Wonderland yet but I must admit I was always a bit disturbed by the story of Alice to begin with. The vivid encounters she has in these "dreams" of her are really...odd. As far as Tim Burton goes, he creates disturbing masterpieces, Nightmare Before Christmas possibly being my favorite. He has a very dark theme to his creations but there is never a doubt in your mind who made it. Working with DISNEY however, I'm not sure I approve of that message, I think it throws off the PG vibe of the label.
Ohh, Burton's Alice was brilliant. Burton, Depp, Bonham Carter make an AMAZING team.
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