I’ve been a fan of Tim Burton for a long time due to the imaginative and dark, eccentric nature of his films, plus the fact he usually has Helena Bonham-Carter and the lovely Johnny Depp in starring roles. But most of all I love the look and style of the films – in particular the costumes. I spent a lot of the film wishing I had Alice’s red dress!
A couple of his films are quite tragic, such as Edward Scissorhands which is one of my favourites, along with Mars Attacks (even though it bombed at the cinemas), Sleepy Hollow and Big Fish. Although to be honest I wasn’t a huge fan of Willy Wonka (mainly because I love the original musical version SO much). I still haven’t seen Sweeney Todd and Ed Wood either so these are on my ‘to watch’ list for sure.
Anyway, the reason for this post is that yesterday I went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D and now I would like to tell you what I thought of it. So, for starters, you won’t disappointed with the look of the film because it is amazing as usual (including the sets and costumes), and there is a great contrast between the bright sunshine, corsets and smart dresses at the beginning and the darkness, CGI effects and bold colours of ‘Underland’.
I had read a not-too-great review beforehand so I was prepared to be disappointed but I really enjoyed the whole thing. I think it has more widespread appeal than a lot of Tim Burton films, and is suitable for families and people who weren’t fans of Tim Burton previously. I think this might be why some Tim Burton fans were a bit disappointed – because they were expecting, and wanted, the dark/creepy side to shine through. I was surprised at the lack of freaky singing plants and a smug, creepy Cheshire cat, but frankly I’m glad there wasn’t these things because a) the freaky things in the Disney version scare me and b) it made the film and a lot more light hearted and fun.
I think the actors/actresses in the film were brilliant – Johnny Depp was (as always) great as the insane character (!), but I think the real star of the show was Helena Bonham-Carter as the big-headed Red Queen:
She reminded me a heck of a lot of Queenie played by Miranda Richardson in ‘Blackadder’ (one of my favourite TV shows) – and I think this made it much more entertaining.
The story was quite simple, but I was never bored. It was also the first time I’d watched a film in 3D so that was an experience – I jumped at everything that ‘flew’ out of the screen! I would have liked to see more of the Caterpillar (voiced by the awesome Alan Rickman) and the Cheshire cat (voiced by the equally awesome Stephen Fry), and I didn’t much like the white queen for some reason, but all-in-all I’d definitely recommend this film just don’t expect it to be a particularly creepy/dark film. Oh, and one more thing. There seem to be quite a few people who really hate the ‘funderwhacking’ dance the Mad Hatter does at the end, but I’m not really sure why it’s such a big deal. It was just a very short bit of fun at the end – I think the mistake Tim Burton made was to build up the dance into something worth looking forward to at the end, so it was an anticlimax. But all the same, I’m sure kids appreciate it!
On a side note, if you would like to dress as the Mad Hatter for fancy dress, you can find inspiration and instructions for how to make the Hatter’s hat, here.
For behind-the-scenes info and fun videos and links, have a look at my dedicated page here.
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