
The 2010 blockbuster movie season is officially underway with Tim Burton’s take on Alice breaking records and celebrating all things mad and fantastical. Alice is only tangentially related to Labyrinth, but this movie has long been on the radar of gobblin readers, so I thought I’d open up a thread to talk about it.
My mini review: I really enjoyed it! There were moments I felt a little giddy excitement about being swept away to someplace truly wonderful. I absolutely loved the Cheshire Cat, Red and White queens and the colors and fashions. I thought Alice herself was wonderfully cast and played, but in the middle part of the movie, I would have liked to see her assert herself more, as Alice the girl from the original story, was rather precocious and not one to just step in line with heroics. The one element that didn’t work for me at all was the Mad Hatter. (Sorry, Mandy!) He didn’t strike me as particular mad, just quirky, and those quirks I found more annoying than endearing. I really liked the ending in the real world, which might have been anachronistic, but felt right. The movie is clearly not an adaptation, but even though it takes place 13 years later with a young adult Alice, it isn’t exactly a sequel either. Really, the story feels more like a Narnia or Oz book with the clear good guys and bad guys and the Hatter cast as more of a Scarecrow like “dear friend” role. It’s not necessarily the update to Alice in Wonderland I would have imagined, but it works and I was glad to go along for the adventure.
Okay, that’s my “short” take. What did you guys think? I’m also curious what you guys thought about the importance of 3D for this movie. I watched it in 3D, but in retrospect, I’d rather have saved the $3 and awkwardness of wearing double glasses to see it flat. Let the Frabjous comments commence!









