"Alice in Wonderland" review

YouTube review

"Alice in Wonderland" reviewed by Jason Goldtrap 03.03.10

Tim Burton has triumphantly welded the medium of film in "Alice in Wonderland" by stepping out of the way and letting the story stand on its own legs. In other words, he did not make it a "Tim Burton film."

"Alice in Wonderland" is the greatest gift of Lewis Carroll, whom Wikipedia describes as an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. In this movie, the viewer can appreciate all that is laudable about fine literature, be comforted by the surety of consequences, be admirable at the complexity of the endeavor, be charmed by the worthiness of high values while being grateful that the technology at hand, in this case computer generated special effects, was employed not only with great skill but with the utmost care because the bedazzlement never overpowers the story.

Wonderland is its own world. While it borrows figures it is not a symbol or even an illustration of what the world should be or is from a skewed perspective. It is what it is: a land of color and whimsy, chartered to cherish innocence while extolling goodness. It is a shelter sorely needed. Dropped like a stone deep into this collage of crimson, indigo and saffron is Alice (confidently portrayed by Australian ingénue Mia Wasikowska), a young girl who may, or may not, yet be ready for womanhood. Though fair haired and delicate in form, Alice is not a naïve waif pining for a prince, she is fully self-actualized: dauntless, faithful to herself, civilized and beyond common reproach. Without being over idealized, her pervasive humanity and femininity allows her to be a realistic role model. She possesses no magic other than the grand rampart of knowing who she is even when she does not necessarily realize who she is. Ultimately, Alice's adventure in


Wonderland only provides an avenue, a format by which she can simply be awake.

The movie itself is family friendly without being preachy. It is a children's story which holds the adult's attention. It has no modern subtext, no hidden meaning, no twist ending; it is simple storytelling in the best tradition. The true ogre is not aristocracy; it's bad behavior.

Each character is complex and sympathetic. Even on the playing field of black and white, heroes and villains, there is room for analysis and understanding.

The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) is truly pathetic, wearing her misery just below the surface of her painted face and her, appropriately, bulbous head. She is not so much loved as she is feared and she is fully aware of her loathsome state, yet, even in her most agitated moments she remains superbly insolent, with a dry English wit always willing to pierce the soul of any foe with a snide observation.

Johnny Depp, with his costume of frizzy orange hair, top hat and ludicrous yellow eyes presents his Mad Hatter not as a comical banshee but more as a simpatico to Alice herself. Like his costume, he is a cacophony of man's best traits and man's worst foibles. Forever, emotionally, in the moment, his gallant yet rambunctious nature endears him to both Alice and the audience.

Seeing a quality movie, much like eating a finely cooked meal or hearing a good song, elevates the one privileged to taste the mastery. "Alice in Wonderland" extols the ideals of dreaming in a world which desperately needs dreamers. It approaches the purveyors of mediocrity, compromise and depravity and says, "Off with their heads!" See "Alice in Wonderland" and you will skip from the theater more willing to envisage your own kingdom.