MOVIE REVIEW: Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton is a brilliant director.

Johnny Depp is a fantastic actor.

Johnny Depp acting in a Tim Burton directed movie equals AWESOME movie.

At least that's usually the case. The combo of Burton and Depp have given us some great movies, my personal favourite being Corpse Bride. But in recent years the magic that seemed to appear whenever these two worked together appears to have faded away. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was pretty dull and pointless and the most positive aspect was the visuals. Alice in Wonderland is better than that, but is still below par.

The plot is basically that for some reason Alice has forgotten all about Underland, why she's forgotten the place and everything about it is never explained, and on the day she is proposed to by some dull person she is lured into the rabbit hole once again because she is the chosen saviour of Underland. In short, it's basically Narnia dressed in Alice in Wonderland clothing. You can pretty much figure out the plot and everything about it from that.

It's not a bad plot really. It's just far from being as imaginative and original as the stuff Burton usually gives us. It's just sort of bland, but still entertaining enough.

There are some nice scenes here and there. Like when a giant-sized Alice meets the Red Queen for the first time or when the Jabberwocky is revealed. But yeah, nothing much stands out.

Acting is solid throughout the entire movie with Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee and Stephen Fry delivering the most entertaining performances. Depp does a nice mad Mad Hatter but the role doesn't have even half the charm of his more famous roles nor does he make any lasting impressions. Mia Wasikowska as Alice though is very enjoyable and she's not your usual adventure heroine, until the end where she basically becomes Jean d'Ark. But even that's actually a cool moment.

And... that's basically it really. It's a movie that entertains but doesn't stand out as anything special.

I'm thinking that mr. Burton and mr. Depp should go their seperate ways for a while before their next collaboration. Just so that they can make something really special instead of just giving us these so-and-so movies. It might do them good.

Until next time, peace out.