March 5, 2010
3D Wonderland
Today saw the release of the long awaited Alice and Wonderland in 3D. This film tells the story of Alice as a 19-year old girl who accidentally returns to Underland 13 years after her first visit. In the film she is told she is the only one who can fight the JabberWock, a dragon controlled by the Red Queen.
I was one of many girls who from an early age adored this fairytale and the idea of a fantasy world with talking rabbits, appearing cats and mad hatters. So when I heard Burton was directing this new film of Alice revisiting ‘Underland’ it was safe to say I was excited at least.
After paying £8.60 to get in to see the film, and being second row from the front it was clear to see I wasn’t the only one who was excited to see Alice and friends again. The film began and I was quickly transported back to my childhood and into a fantasy world.
Depp played an outstanding part as the Mad Hatter, however at times I found it very difficult to understand what he was saying, both in his American and Scottish accent. Was this a scripted part of his ‘mad’ acting? There were a few instances throughout the film where he whispered a vital part of the story to Alice and I didn’t have a clue what was going on.
The film itself was phenomonal, the 3D effects and animations were incredible and Burton has certainly succeeded in making the film feel more like a story than a series of events about a wandering girl. However, I do wonder whether the film would succeed as much as its speculated too without these technological advances?
I was slightly disappointed that part of the fairtytale world I’d once known had been turned into a story of a girl who was born to slay a dragon to save her friends. However, even with this dragon slaying plot, I was still transported to and from the fantasy world I used to know as Wonderland.
sarahlouise90 said,
March 5, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Brilliant review! I really cant wait to see it…are the 3D effects any good? As normally they don’t do anything for me! And who plays Alice by the way, an unknown actress?
amylockhart18 said,
March 6, 2010 at 8:37 am
The effects are fab… there’s one bit where Tweedle Dee and Dum are being pulled through a set of bushes by this huge bird and I was squirming because I felt like I was actually gonna hit something!
Alice is played by Mis Wasikowska, she’s been in a few films but none that I’ve ever seen.
matthewstobbart said,
March 12, 2010 at 12:31 pm
This is a great blog! I went to see the film last weekend and enjoyed it. I know what you mean about finding it difficult to understand what Johnny Depp was saying, although I think that he was meant to sound like that, even though it is annoying as it can make you lose track of what is going on slightly. Th crazy rabbit is cool too, it made me laugh. Overall I agree with you that it was a good film.
Beverley said,
March 14, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Great blog Amy. Well done. Like you I’ve loved the idea of Alice and Wonderland for a long time and I am a major fan of Johnny Depp’s slightly leftfield acting and choice of roles so I was very excited about this film. I had read the plot summary so knew I wasn’t going to a remake of The Lewis Carroll story but was about to see a “coming of age” movie set in Wonderland – certainly sounded ok and the media hype definitely aroused my interest. Despite this or maybe because of it, I was really quite disappointed on a number of levels. Johnny Depp was Johnny Depp and the 3D effects were fun but not the visual treat that Avatar had given. For me, the film was little more than form over substance and left me feeling very little other than let down after all I’d been promised by the build up. Anne Hathaway’s acting was hard to watch and the story was very predictable. Matt Lucas played Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as though they were long lost brothers of George Daws/ Doors from Shooting Stars. I did like the design, costumes and colour, especially of The Red Queen’s Palace and I thought Helena Bonham Carter played her role well – though again she seemed to have taken much of her inspiration from BBC comedy as Blackadder’s Queenie was very much apparent. I’m sure I’m in the minority but having now seen the film I just can’t agree with the rave reviews. Give me the plain and simple good old fashioned Alice in Wonderland anyday!
amylockhart18 said,
March 15, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Hi Beverley, thanks for having a look round and commenting. I totally agree with you! I’d rather watch the Alice in Wonderland fairytale that I love over this new Alice in ‘Underland’.
The Last Detail « What will Amy watch? said,
May 13, 2010 at 4:33 pm
[...] I’ve enjoyed more than others. I first started this blog back in March with the review of Alice in Wonderland in 3D, a slightly disappointing start to say the least. I then went on to review the films you chose [...]