Alice In Wonderland

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland is a comedy, drama and adventure delivered in true Tim Burton style. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is the icing on the cake.

In this new version of an old story, we see Alice, not as a child, but as a young woman. She once again follows the white rabbit down the hole, returning to Wonderland to see the adventure of her youth through to completion this time.

A classic Tim Burton film, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter with Danny Elfman scoring the soundtrack. The visual aspects of a Tim Burton Film are all present as well. The distorted perspective, everything dark, yet very colorful at the same time. The world around the action appears to be dead, the trees have only a few thick limbs that end in identical curls, no leaves, no green grass. Where the action takes place however, we see color and substance and life, most noticeably when we are introduced to the Red Queen's castle. The castle and its immediate grounds are beautiful; the lawns are manicured, the shrubs perfectly trimmed, roses and other flowers are growing, yet a dark, dead forest surrounds the castle. 

The combination of live action and computer animation in this film is obvious yet almost unnoticeable. The Mad Hatter is purely live action, however, his wardrobe, hair and eyes are so colorful and over the top that he blends well with the animated characters. The Red Queen is also live action, with her head enlarged to three times its normal size in post production, making her appear very child-like. The Red Knave, the Queens right hand man, is a mixture of animation and live action. His entire body being computer generated and his head being live action. All of the animals in the film are animation, they look real enough to convince the viewer, yet they did not attempt to make them look 100% real. Bayard the Bloodhound is the only animal that was a bit hinky and distracting. Trusty, from Lady and the Tramp is a more convincing bloodhound than Bayard the computer generated one.

I am a fan of both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and they did not disappoint in this telling of an old classic. One of my favorite lines in the film was when a young Alice is telling her father about her dreams, she asks if he thinks she's "gone round the bend", he father answers with a simple yes.

For more on Alice in Wonderland, please visit the follow sites:

Disney's Alice in Wonderland

Rotten Tomatoes Review

Alice in Wonderland at IMDB