We're all familiar with the old Alice in Wonderland story. If, by some chance, you're newly arrived on Earth (first of all, "welcome") you can read it here or listen to it here. The rest of us either read the book, saw the Disney cartoon, or caught the zillions of references to it in TV, literature, comics, and song. Last night I had more examples, but off the top of my head I can only think of the song "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, The Mad Hatter from Batman, and the chick with the tattoo that Neo was supposed to follow in "The Matrix".
Now there's a new Alice in Wonderland movie. Only, it's not about the book "Alice in Wonderland". It's not even about the sequel, "Through the Looking Glass". This is a new Alice story based on the first two.
The posters and teasers showed that this was gonna be Wonderland shown in a way that only Tim Burton could, or would, do it. I was expecting the completely mad classic story with the acid trip look we kept seeing advertised. When I found out this was a late teens Alice returning to Wonderland I was afraid for the story. Sure, finding a small child who can act is very hard, but why mess with a good thing?
Actually, there is a flashback scene with a 6 year old Alice that makes me glad that they didn't go that route.
So, Yummy and I went to see the movie Saturday night. We briefly meet young Alice dealing with strange dreams of her trip to Wonderland and get some idea what kind of person her father is. Then we leap ahead to an 18 year old, pale Alice with dark rings around her eyes, who is being swept along by life toward places she doesn't want to go and doesn't know what to do about it.
Alice is going to a party where she will be proposed to by a Lord that she doesn't seem to know. At the party is all manner of person, most of whom are supposed to be different Wonderland creatures. But when the proposal comes Alice runs off into the garden maze and slips off to Wonderland.
This next bit bothered me. You know how the Harry Potter movies seem rushed because they have an insane number of pages to fit into a 2-3 hour span? That's how the next 10-15 minutes of the movie feel. There's about 20 minutes off footage that you just KNOW ended up on the cutting room floor and needed to be put back in.
Long story short (too late) Alice has come to fulfill the prophecy that says she'll kill the Jabberwocky and end the reign of the Red Queen. The problem being that the throne belongs to the Red Queen by right of inheritance. The White Queen is popular, but she's a usurper and this isn't her first attempt at taking the crown. Little things make you come to mistrust the White Queen.
We also see Alice grow into herself over the course of the movie. She drinks the shrinking drink to make her tiny which reflects how much of the original Alice there is in her. But as she gets her confidence back and starts to take command she eats the growing cake to make her large. When it comes time for her to accept the final challenge she is made normal size to reflect that she is fully Alice again. So when she returns to the surface she has regained her confidence and is able to tell the Lord she's not interested and steps in to become an active part of her late father's business.
For the most part I liked the movie. There is symbolism and themes and what not that can be followed by someone other than pretentious prats in smoking jackets who are just making shit up anyway. I'm not sure, however, that I'll want to buy it.
I look forward to seeing costumes of the Red Queen's soldiers at future comic conventions.
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