ALICE IN WONDERLAND
3 out of 5 stars

knave of hearts: “if you’re hiding her, you will lose your heads.”

mad hatter: “already lost them.”


tim burton’s world of wonderland is visually stunning, but you could definitely feel the walt disney “let’s not scare the children, tim” influence in this watered-down re-telling of lewis carroll’s story of a girl who falls down a rabbit hole. i expected better. it’s tim burton, for god’s sake! i want the goth, the darkness, the blood he used in sweeney todd, dammit!!!


ok, i’m calm now... tim burton casts his usuals: johnny depp (the bi-polar mad hatter), helena bonham carter (the giant headed red queen), alan rickman (the hookah smoking blue catepillar), crispin glover (the creepy one-eyed knave of hearts), sir christopher lee (the purple electricity breathing jabberwocky). anne hathaway joins the cast as the good but airy white queen, and newcomer mia wasilkowska shines as the stubborn, free-spirited alice. the story is quite simple: the red queen rules with an iron fist and with a penchant for chopping heads over wonderland, that the citizens of this magical place want a new ruler, the white queen. the white queen needs a “champion” to go against the red queen’s jabberwocky, and who do you think will be called to the challenge? yep...you guessed it!


you know, it almost felt like i was watching a lady gaga music video... all the characters are bizarre-looking, alice and the queens wear these fabulous tulle dresses, and just the mad hatter’s interchanging green/orange crazy eyes alone say enough. (it’s no wonder i laughed hysterically at the gaga in wonderland video on youtube :P) the most random/LOL in the movie theater scene is when the mad hatter dances the futterwacken. (just watch for it—it’s so random/amusing all @ the same time!)