DVDSleuth.com is your source for daily DVD news and reviews.
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc released: 6/1/2010
All Ratings out of
Movie:
1/2
Video:
1/2
Audio:
Extras:
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 5/30/2010
At times, there are movie combinations announced which simply don't sound right. Filmmakers and projects are paired which seem to be doomed from the get-go. For example, when I learned that Jonathan Demme would be directing The Silence of the Lambs, I wasn't crazy about that at all, but in the end, it worked out. But, at other times, the match doesn't end well, like when Michael Bay try to produce horror films and we get things like
The Unborn. However, there are some matches which seem to be made in heaven. Who didn't think that Tim Burton doing an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland sounded like one of the best ideas ever? The book may be one of the strangest pieces of classic literature that we have, and Burton has made a career out of being weird. What could go wrong?As Alice in Wonderland opens, we meet six year old Alice (Mairi Ella Challen), a young girl who is haunted by dreams of a strange land inhabited by strange creatures. The story then leaps ahead 13 years. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) and her mother (Lindsay Duncan) arrive at a party, where Alice learns that the odd Hamish (Leo Bill) is going to propose to her. When this is about to occur, Alice flees from the party and spots a White Rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen). She follows the rabbit and falls down a hole, finding herself in a strange place, where food and beverages can make her grow or shrink. She soon finds herself confronted with talking animals, such as the aforementioned Rabbit, a Dormouse (voiced by Barbara Windsor), and two odd fellows, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (both voiced by Matt Lucas). Does all of this sound familiar? The issue at hand here is that Alice has no recollection of having visited this place before, but the creatures act as if they know her. Even worse, they are counting on her to save the land from the tyranny of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Alice soon begins a journey in which she meets many unusual lifeforms -- some good, some bad -- and she also begins to learn about herself.
Truth be told, I haven't read either of the Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. But, I know enough about them to know that they are a combination of a linear story mixed with non-sense creatures and words. There is clearly a lot of imagination at work in the stories, and Carroll created a world which seems to be between a dream and a nightmare. Who better to make sense of all of this than Tim Burton? Much of Burton's filmography is built upon taking stories which exist in our world, but making them just bizarre enough that they seem truly out of the ordinary. Given Burton's signature visual style and his penchant for odd characters, he seemed like the perfect person to helm this project.
Allow me to start with a positive -- this is a great looking movie. From the opening shot, in which the Cheshire Cat appears in the full moon, the movie has a fantastic look and the design of everything in Alice in Wonderland is impressive. It's clear that a great deal of work went into each character and the landscape, and there is an amazing amount of detail as well. For example, the Red Queen's playing card soldiers don't look anything like the ones from the Disney animated film, but they run in the exact same manner. Little things like that make the overall presentation very eye-catching. For a Tim Burton film, there is a nice use of color, although there are the expected dark scenes as well.
So, why doesn't Alice in Wonderland work? I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it, but the movie simply didn't grab me. I mean, it should work -- it's a great looking movie which puts a spin on a familiar story. But, in the end, it all seems very bombastic, yet utterly pointless. For starters, I wasn't wowed by Alice. Wasikowska seems like a competent actress, but as portrayed by her, Alice is very passive and dull, and even in the scenes where she is supposed to be passionate, she seems bored. (And it doesn't help that Wasikowska is so pale as to almost be non-existent.) While the movie is great-looking, the fact that much of it is computer generated, gives it a sort of sterility, very similar to the effect of
Avatar. (The CG also doesn't always work. Although Stayne is played by a real person (Crispin Glover), he is often clearly CG and it makes his body look distorted and unreal -- this kept pulling me out of the film.) And while the movie wants to create suspense and a sense of urgency, the storyline itself has already told us how the movie is going to end, so we, the audience, simply sit and wait.I know that some have an issue with taking a new swing at a classic story, but I don't, and, again, I welcomed this new version of Alice in Wonderland. And while the film certainly has its technical merits, it never comes to life. We're left with interesting visuals and a few entertaining characters, but little else. What could have been a fun romp, takes itself too seriously at times, and feels like it wants to be a
Narnia-like epic. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was the focus of the film's marketing campaign, but the character is under-written and, at times, annoying. Alice in Wonderland has a lot going for it, but, like the Cheshire Cat, there is a good chance that it will simply disappear from your memory.Alice in Wonderland gets away with saying Eat Me on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 23 Mbps. You probably wouldn't get much of a reaction if you said that a Tim Burton movie looked dark, but there's something odd happening here. When compared to DVD or TV, most movies look brighter on Blu-ray. But, Alice in Wonderland looks dark. I even double-checked my display settings. When Alice first enters Wonderland, it's hard to see what is happening. This doesn't diminish the colors in Wonderland, but to me, it was very obvious. Otherwise, the image is sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. The image has a nice amount of depth and the level of detail is good. The Disc features a DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are nicely done, helping to illustrate sounds from off-screen. The surround sound effects work very well, as Alice is often placed in the middle of noisy crowds. The audio shows good separation and the sound effects never drown out the dialogue. Danny Elfman's score sounds great as well. There is some nice subwoofer action during the finale.
The Alice in Wonderland Blu-ray Disc contains an assortment of extras, which are housed under two headings. The first is called "Wonderland Characters" (28 minutes) and it contains six chapters which examine several different characters and how they were created. We get a look at Alice, Mad Hatter, The Red Queen, and The White Queen. The piece contains interviews with Burton and the actors, as well as behind-the-scenes footage where we see make-up being applied and ideas being tossed around. There is also an examination of the "Futterwacken" dance. "Making Wonderland" (19 minutes) contains six chapters as well, and it focuses on the production. In this, we get comments from Danny Elfman about the music, and from there, the piece looks at the stunts, visual effects, props, and set design.
Review by Mike Long. Copyright 2010.