Many attempts have been made at creating a visual presentation of the literary nonsense that is Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass. It has taken nearly one-and-a-half centuries and the insane-artist genius of Tim Burton (Batman Forever, Corpse Bride) to convince me it could be done satisfactorily.
Though Burton’s take on the 1865 tale has advantages in computer animation over previous attempts, the film still brilliantly solves the challenging dilemma of Alice: how do you make a movie based on a story with next to no plot?
Collaborating with Linda Woolverton, writer of Disney’s adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and the book for Anne Rice’s theatrical adaption of Lestat, Burton gives his typical (though never dull) gothic luster to the places and faces of Wonderland.
Like the partnership between Lewis Carroll and the first Alice illustrator Sir John Tenniel, Burton’s magic wouldn’t have been as spellbinding without the talents of Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands). Depp’s Hatter role marks the seventh collaboration for the duo, of which Burton said, “I was going for a combination of Bozo and The Exorcist.”
Depp’s Hatter possesses a fragile mental stability, equalized by the donning of his hat. But unlike most adaptations in which the Hatter and fellow habitants are frustratingly confusing to Alice (see Disney’s 1951 version), here most of the characters are helpful confidants for the young woman. Alice, played by newcomer Mia Wasikowska, proves after all to be the champion of the film.
It is through her descent into “Underland”, as called by its inhabitants and perhaps an allusion to Carroll’s original title for the first Alice novel, that Alice finds the strength to forge her way into adulthood. She is a young woman of 19, on the verge of the life-altering decision of accepting, or not accepting, a marriage proposal.
Alice’s victory is shown through the events in the contention of the story, a sibling rivalry between the angelically twisted White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and the light bulb-headed Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) of Underland. Herein also lies the moral lesson inclusive to all Disney films.
Though this Alice is different from Carroll’s passive and helpless 10 year-old and a departure from the princess-producing Disney machine, Woolverton makes it work. By stepping up to the challenge of defending her Wonderland friends, Alice takes the position of the White Knight, a character represented by a male presence in Carroll’s novel and in several other Alice adaptations (see Nick Willing’s 1999 Alice).
The resulting conclusion of the film harkens a somewhat feminist tone in which the only knight to save Alice from her fears is Alice herself.
Though the lead characters steal the show, performances not to be missed include Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, Matt Lucas’s face and voice as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Michael Sheen as the voice of the White Rabbit. All talents come together to make Tim Burton’s Alice the wonderland that, until now, you’ve only ever seen in your imagination.
The IUSB Preface > Arts and Entertainment
Wonderland a story of strength
Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
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