Alice in Wonderland

Whenever Tim Burton directs a film, you can almost always count on it to be very weird, but very good. And nine times out of ten, you can expect to see Johnny Depp. Well, “Alice in Wonderland” was, sadly, not all that great. It reminded me of the “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” remake a few years ago: full of visual treats, but the heart and the mind are left wanting. The main character Alice failed to deliver a worthy performance at all. Moreover, the 3D effects were more annoying than helpful. “Alice” is average.

Sure, Burton knows how to please us with his eye-candy landscapes and his fabulously crafted creatures of Wonderland, but he spent too little time explaining the story. All throughout the film, I found myself wondering about things that just didn’t make sense. For instance, if the Red Queen is so mean to all of her subjects, including to her military force, why wasn’t she overthrown ages ago? I’m not saying the film needs lengthy explanations for why everything is as it is, but for a 3D movie, “Alice” had a very one-dimensional feel.

Another problem with “Alice” was that there was hardly any character development at all. Whenever a key character was in danger, it was very hard to care. When Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum get captured, the audience stifles a yawn. When Alice herself is in danger of death, we couldn’t care less. Besides the fact no one ever kills the title character in a movie (except for “Old Yeller” and “Romeo and Juliet”), Alice also happened to be an awful actress. She was the only character who did a terrible job, and she happened to be the main one. Nice casting, Burton. At least Johnny Depp was there to keep us going. He was the only actor who was remotely interesting.

Another missed opportunity in this movie was in the 3D special effects. According to many movie-news websites on the Internet, “Alice” was not actually intended to be a 3D film. Therefore, it was not shot in 3D. They just hired some people to transform it that way when the shooting was complete. The quality of the 3D effects was much lower because of their hasty transition. More than anything it ended up being distracting, and isn’t worth the extra cash.

“Alice in Wonderland” was not the masterpiece it could have been. The story had many holes in it, there wasn’t good character development, and Alice herself was a bad actress. The 3D effects were more distracting than interesting, but the basic special effects were still great. Johnny Depp’s presence added appeal, but otherwise the film suffered. I give it 5 out of 10 stars. Stick to the Disney cartoon.