TimBurtonland

Curiouser and curiouser.

That about sums up Tim Burton’s version (complete with a Disney filter) of Alice in Wonderland. It’s not one of his best, but certainly not the worst.

If you are expecting an exact depiction of the Lewis Caroll’s masterpiece ala Harry Potter, this is not that movie. Is that bad? Not really. If you’ve already seen the Disney cartoon, you’ve got the gist. Better yet, read the book - even LSD-powered imagination can't top it.

I personally applaud Burton’s bold take on the story – in that he created an entirely new one with the original cast (take a hint – Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, psssh).

The film begins on a baby Alice interrupting her father’s business expansion plans to talk about her nightmares – one where she is chasing a rabbit in a waistcoat. Zip to 13 years into the future, where Alice is being passive-aggressively forced to marry a bloke who has the runs. And a runny nose.

Rather than surrendering to her fate, Alice prefers to follow her waistcoated rabbit down the hole. She travels all of Wonderland, sneaks into the Red Queen’s court, runs off with an Excalibur-like sword to eventually kill a monster and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.

Predictable? Yes. Delightful? Equally.

Clever little touches abound. For example, the Red Queen’s heart shaped lips. Her court full of people with some kind of enormity – heads, chins, ears or paunches. Or the swollen pig thrust under the Red Queen’s feet to soothe them.

Speaking of which, Helena Bonham-Carter delivers in heaps as the Red Queen. She makes you loathe the character and feel sorry for her at the same time. Mia Whateverhername’s attempt at a confused Alice comes off as a stupid Alice, not withstanding the blonde hair. Anne Hathway as the White Queen looked like a creepy version of Gaya with black nails and silvery hair.

The biggest disappointment however was Johnny Depp, who felt wasted in this movie. Asking him to play the Mad Hatter feels like asking a third grader to do basic multiplication (wait, can they do that?). Surely Tim Burton could have done something infinitely better with the talent pool at his disposal.

The graphics are not going to put Avatar to shame. Nevertheless, they are beautiful. Stick around when the end credits roll.

Which wont be hard since this not an altogether shabby movie. Not at all.