Alice in Wonderland: movie review

I was far more excited to see the new Tim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland – in 3-D – than my two children were.

It was a peek into Tim Burton’s mind, people, and that’s an adventure on its own.

Needless to say, this is not a film for young children.

Firstly, it may scare them. Then, much of the subtle humour and comment will be lost on them. Even for the older children, from the recommended 10 upwards, a lot of the nuances will be lost.

So, this is really a movie for young adults and adults who are tickled by cinematic fantasy and who are keen for a foray into the madness of Wonderland, or Underland as it’s called in this version.

Movie Alice is grown-up

The movie is really a sequel to the stories that were set in Wonderland, though it includes the characters that Carroll created.

We encounter a 19-year-old Alice who finds herself in bland, dreary circumstances about to be asked by a family friend to be married. She is reluctant to accept, and instead goes off in pursuit of a white rabbit it seems only she can see, who eventually leads her down the rabbit hole.

That’s when things get super-colourful, acid-tinged and really, really curious.

Remember, Lewis Carroll wrote the stories Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found under the influence of narcotics, and delved into the workings of his own mind to reveal the madness that surely lies, sometimes dormant in us all.

But what is madness, really? It all starts with Alice tumbling, fearfully, down, down, and further down the hole, and when she lands, she is invited by a bottle of liquid to ‘drink me’ to shrink, and a piece of cake to ‘eat me’ to grow.

She opens the door, enters the fantasy world that may or may not exist in her head (she can’t ‘pinch’ herself out of this dream as her father used to tell her she could when she had nightmares as a child) and so her adventure begins.

Alice has a purpose

She arrives, bewildered in this world that she seems to have forgotten, unaware that they have been waiting for her: she has a purpose. The Alice is destined to slay the Jaberwocky who protects the evil Red Queen, played superbly by Helena Bonham Carter complete with oversized head and painted-on heart-shaped lips.

Alice, however, has no intention of slaying a thing. The Mad Hatter, played deliciously by Jonny Depp as only he can – think Willy Wonka or Edward Scissorhands – points out to her on hearing this that she’s “Lost her Muchness”.

Big themes, messages

Madness, potential, authenticity, the themes are all there to be explored for the inquiring mind, and that Alice completes her task and rises to the occasion in this other world, makes a firm comment on self belief and actualization. It took some bizarre characters and situations to bring Alice to the point of actually doing something assertive in the story.

Visually this is a feast for the eyes. Purists may find fault with the actual storyline, but for me this was about escaping with Alice down that rabbit hole, feeling the sense of bizarre about each character and situation – I could name a few, but go see the movie yourself to appreciate the piglet as footstool and throwing of teacups.

I could easily go see Alice in Wonderland again, there is so much to notice, both in terms of what you can see and what you can hear, and I give it a big thumbs up.

Author info: Cindy Moritz

Cindy Moritz is All4Women's contributing editor based in Cape Town. She spent ten years in magazine publishing, and was editor of fashion business title Pursuit for most of that time. She went on to edit popular parenting title Cape Town's Child, drawing on her own experience as mother of two young children. Deciding to practise what she preached, after a couple of years Cindy gave up the office job to pursue that fine balance of work and life which freelancing offers, and after having features published in a number of local magazines including Elle, Longevity, Femina and Strictly Business, she discovered www.all4women.co.za and online publishing. She's never looked back.