ALICE IN WONDERLAND

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

There is nothing like a little controversy to stir the interest in a film. The battle between Disney and theatre operators in Europe (Odeon) and the US (AMC) cause a stir as Disney threatened to shorten the time window between box office release and DVD release from 17 week to 12. After a brief standoff which included both theater companies promising not to play the movie at all... Disney relented (in a way) and agreed to 13 weeks. Odeon, stayed fast and will not show the film in UK, Ireland and Italy. I'm not quite sure what kind of compromise that is... but...

Of course the big story should be and is Tim Burton's redo of the classic Lewis Carroll story "Alice in Wonderland". It stars his favorite muse, Johnny Depp - the seventh such joint project if you include Depp's voice-over in "Corpse Bride" - and Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter. As Alice, Mia Wasikowska steps forward in another rendition of her playing the wholesome waif - if there is such a thing.

"Alice in Wonderland" is Tim Burton doing what Tim Burton does best, taking a creepy story and making it even creepier. I never knew how awful a person Sweeney Todd was until I saw Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (which I still cntend was the best movie of 2007).

So now comes a much older Alice skipping out on a proposal from a nerdy guy and following that same rabbit down that same garden path to that same hole.

Burton has made Alice a 19-year old girl instead of the sweet little girl we grew to know. The older Alice isn't much smarter and indeed comes off as pretty stupid, but we follow her anyway as she looks down into the hole that a person with common sense would never approach.

Just as she did in her younger years, she falls in and finds herself in a wondrous world of good and evil and something in between. Of course Alice is the good, the Red Witch (Bonham Carter) is the evil and the Mad Hatter (Depp) is that thing in between.

As is typical of a Burton film, he has created a lavishly dark yet curious world which draws Alice in one step at a time - with the audience following along dutifully. We meet all the auxiliary characters in all their weirdness.

Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar is unmistakable with his perfectly creepy voice. Rickman projects his voice in such a creepy way, you can close your eyes an envision the worst. Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat is a great choice and Ann Hathaway as the lovely White Queen most appropriate. But Christopher Lee as Jabberwocky completed the casting coup.

Alice, having completely forgotten her earlier adventure in this most foreign land quickly learns she must take on and replace the Red Queen, who is deliciously portrayed by Bonham Carter.

Wasikowska and Depp create a most interesting couple; their screen chemistry is nearly flawless. She is filled with awe and fear, he is flawed with comical mischief that only Depp can exude.

It is perhaps how she matches Depp's facial mannerism and drags us along in this 2 hour 40 minute romp.

Purist may not like the revamp, particularly Alice as an older young woman instead of a little girl. Yet, the reality of the older woman gaining empowerment is more suited to the time than a fresh faced little girl. We get more of a "Wizard of Oz" than a "Narnia". A wider audience will related to Burton's "Alice in Wonderland".

I can't really say I remember or even liked the old styles of Lewis Carroll's story. But I can say that Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" did exactly what I expected a Tim Burton film to do... fill me with awe, wonder and a bit on mayhem! --GEOFFREY BURTON

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