Directed by Tim Burton
Lewis Carroll’s books Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were written in 1865 and 1871, the era in which Burton’s 19 year-old Alice (Mia Masikowska) rebels against the restrictions of Victorian England. Well, she isn’t wearing her corset or stockings and questions who determines what is ‘proper’. When a garden party is thrown in her honour, she is distracted by what appears to be a rabbit and when she is proposed to, she is overcome by the urge to follow the rabbit down a hole rather than agree to be married.
Tim Burton and Disney team up together to take Alice back to the magical world of her childhood. Thanks Disney’s 3D CGI and Burton’s incredible imagination, Wonderland (or Underland as it is referred to) is a truly awesome fantasyland, where “all the best people are mad, bonkers and off their headsâ€. At the centre of this menagerie of colourful characters brought to life by well-known actors is the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp in his 6th collaboration with Burton). Absalom blue caterpillar (unmistakably Alan Rickman) is on hand to help Alice, or at least give her cryptic advice. Stephen Fry as the Cheshire cat and Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee are the only gays in the village as the Red and White Queens Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway) compete for superiority.
This is a very dark fairy tale as Alice battles all the dangers on her way to discovering who is the ‘real Alice’ – the Alice before her childish aspirations were taken away by the rigours of growing up in Victorian society. Thanks to the 3D technology, the audience is able to do battle alongside Alice and young children might find it quite frightening – as they did Where the Wild Things Are. For adults though – it is a must-see.
Lezly Herbert
